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CIVIL GOVERNMENT 


OF THE UNITED STATES 

AND 

THE STATE OF MISSOURI 


REVISED EDITION 


The One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Thousand 


BY 

Perry S. Rader 

•i 


THE HUGH STEPHENS COMPANY 

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI 




T K as I 

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Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1904, by 
PERRY S. RADER, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 


Copyright, 1897, by Perry S. Rader. 
Copyright, 1907, by Perry S. Rader. 
Copyright, 1912, by Perry S. Rader. 


t 



g'CU312l34 



CONTENTS 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Chapters. Page. 

I.—General Principles. 1 

II.^—Charter and Colonial Governments. 6 

III. —The Rise of the American States and the Union. 16 

IV. —The Fundamental Law—The Constitution. 30 

V.—The Legislative Department. 32 

VI.—Powers of Congress—Taxation. 48 

VII.—Powers Over Commerce. 57 

VIII.—Power to Borrow Money. 61 

IX.—Powers Over Coinage, Weights and Measures. 65 

X.—Natimalization and Bankruptcies. 77 

XI.—The Post Office... 83 

XII.—War, Insurrection, Armies, Navies and Militia. 91 

XIII. —Powers Denied to the United States. 105 

XIV. —Powers Denied to the States. 115 

XV.—The President. 124 

XVI.—The Executive Department. 137 

XVII.—The Judicial Department. 146 

XVIII.—Miscellaneous Provisions. 161 

CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 

Chapters. Page. 

I.—Rise of the State Government. 175 

II.—The Missouri Constitution. 180 

III. —The General Assembly. 185 

IV. —The Executive Department. 205 

V.—The Courts. 225 

VI.—Counties. 246 

VII.—Cities, Towns and Villages. 257 

VIII.—Public Schools. 271 

IX.—Elections. 290 

X.—Taxation. 299 

XI. —Lands and Miscellaneous Matters Concerning Lands. 310 

XII. —Corporations. 320 



































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CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 


CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

1. Reason for Government. —^The Declaration of In¬ 
dependence proclaimed that all men are endowed by their 
Creator with certain “unalienable rights,” or rights that 
can not be taken from them, and that “among these are life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and “that to secure 
these rights governments are instituted among men.” This 
is the reason for government. Government is the result 
of investing certain officers with authority to protect the 
people in their right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of hap¬ 
piness.” Without government, life would be insecure, lib¬ 
erty uncertain, property valueless, and the varied pursuits 
of industry impossible. All civilized people have had gov¬ 
ernment in some form, and the better they have become the 
more firmly established have been their governments. 

2. Forms of Government. —In this age the principal 
governments may be divided into two classes, monarchies 
and republics. The word monarchy means the rule of one 
man, a government by one person. In such a government 
all power resides in or proceeds from one monarch. There 
have been nations in which the ruler, styled king, despot, 
emperor, czar, shah, or sultan, had absolute power of life 

1 ( 1 ) 



2 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


and death over the people. He made the laws for their 
control, interpreted them as he wished, and enforced them 
according to his own caprice. He took the lives of his sub¬ 
jects at will, appropriated their property at pleasure and 
maintained his authority by force. Such a government is 
usually called an absolute monarchy or despotism. It can 
not exist where the people are generally educated, and know¬ 
ing their rights, have the courage to maintain them. But 
perhaps no important nation of this time can strictly be 
said to be an absolute monarchy. Russia and Turkey are 
frequently called such. But laws exist even in those nations, 
and the powers of the sovereign are limited, in some things, 
by them. 

A limited monarchy is a government in which the 
powers of the monarch are limited by laws. These are en¬ 
acted by a parliament or established by the people in some 
other way, and enforced by courts. In some limited mon¬ 
archies there is a constitution, or a charter of rights, to which 
the monarch is required to submit. The monarch, in such 
cases, is at the head of the executive branch of the govern¬ 
ment, and is called king or emperor. England is the best 
example of a limited monarchy. For eight hundred years 
she has had a hereditary king or queen, since King John’s 
time her people have had their bill of rights, or the Magna 
Charta, and for centuries she has had a system of courts to 
enforce her laws, and a Parliament, consisting of the House 
of Lords and the House of Commons, to enact laws for 
the kingdom. But the powers of the sovereign are not the 
same in any two monarchies, whether they be called limited 
or absolute. In one they are more extensive than in another. 

An oligarchy means government by a few men, and an 
aristocracy, government by the principal persons of the 
State. There is in reality no nation on earth where govern¬ 
ment is distinctively an aristocracy or oligarchy, but a dis- 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 


3 


tinguishing feature of all monarchies is that the people are 
divided into classes, and one class is its aristocracy. Thus, 
in England, the House of Lords is composed of persons who 
have inherited the title of lord from an ancestor, or had it 
bestowed upon them by the king or queen for some distin¬ 
guished service in war, or letters, or in the affairs of State 
or Church. In all monarchies certain persons enjoy special 
privileges denied to others. The idea behind such distinc¬ 
tions is that only a few persons are capable of sharing in the 
management of the government. 

A republic is a government by representatives chosen 
by the people. It is sometimes called a government by 
laws. These laws are made by representatives chosen by 
the people, and are enforced by officers chosen by the peo¬ 
ple, or appointed by other officers who have themselves 
been chosen by the people. The people are the source of 
all power in a republic. Whatever power the government 
has, has been given it by them. They can, in an orderly 
and prescribed way, lessen or increase that power when 
they choose. Their laws do not divide the people into 
classes. No one has inherited a title or special privilege 
from an ancestor. All persons are equal before the law. 
The laws are attempted to be framed so as to give all per¬ 
sons an equal chance to pursue whatever useful occupation 
they may wish. In intelligence, in manhood, in abilities, in 
social position they may be very unequal. But their legal 
rights are the same. The United States presents the best 
example of a republic ever known. France and Brazil also 
have a republican government, but less perfect than ours. 

A government directly by the people would be a pure 
or primary democracy. In such a government all the 
people would come together in general council and enact 
laws, and in the same way enforce them. But in a country 
of extensive territory and a large population this would be 
impossible. A republican form of government, therefore, 


4 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

where laws are enacted and enforced by representatives 
chosen by the people, is the fairest and fullest expression of 
popular will. 

3. The Progress of Government.—Through all the 
ages the people contended with their kings for a greater 
share in government. Enlightened men dislike to have all 
power vested in one man or a few men. They are fond 
of self-government or a government of their own fashion¬ 
ing. But among most nations in early times all authority 
was lodged in one person, and the people enjoyed only such 
powers as he chose to give them or as they forced him to 
yield to them. As the people have become stronger and more 
capable of self-government, they have forced their kings 
to permit them to share more and more in the affairs of 
government, or have replaced them with officers of their 
own selection. This has been the contest of all the past. 
It has been an issue between democracy and imperialism, 
and democracy has gradually won, and now in all enlightened 
nations the people—the whole people—^are more and more 
admitted to be the rightful source of governmental au¬ 
thority. If they are to exercise such exalted powers they 
must be wise, and educated, and just, and virtuous. 

4. Whence Come Its Powers.—The Declaration of 
Independence further declares that governments derive 
“their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This 
is an underlying principle in America. Government here is 
a creation of the people. It has no authority it does not 
derive from the people. It is established and maintained 
by the people for their own good. This consent of the peo¬ 
ple is found in the laws of the land. The laws have been 
made by lawmakers chosen by the people, and the people 
are bound to submit to the laws so made until repealed by 
the same law-making body, or declared by the courts to be 
in conflict with their Constitution. 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 


5 


5. What Consent Means. —But '‘consent of the gov¬ 
erned” does not mean that men can refuse to have any 
government at all. Government is necessary for the happi¬ 
ness of mankind. It does not mean that every man must 
consent before the government can exercise any authority. 
The consent of every man could never be obtained. It 
means that the government is the kind that the great mass 
of the people have established for themselves. It means 
that the laws passed and enforced are, for the time being, 
the expressions of their will, and being such, it is the duty 
of all men to yield to its authority and support its institu¬ 
tions. 


Questions on Chapter I. 

1. What does the Declaration of Independence say governments 

are for? (1) 

2. What would be the result of no government? (1) 

3. Into what two great classes are governments divided? (2) 

4. What is an absolute monarchy? (2) 

5. A limited monarchy? (2) 

6. An oligarchy? (2) 

7. An aristocracy? (2) 

8. What is characteristic of all monarchies? (2) 

9. What is a republic? (2) 

10. What would be a pure or primary democracy? (2) 

11. What conflict has progressed through the ages? (3) 

12. Whence come the just powers of government? (4) 

13. Why is government maintained? (4) 

14. In what way is the consent of the people expressed? (4) 

15. What does “consent of the governed” not mean? (5) 

16. What does it mean? (5) 

17. What is the duty of all men? (5) 


CHAPTER II. 


^CHARTER AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 

6. Government a Development.—We will the better 
understand our government as it is today, if we trace its 
origin and development. Was our government the inven¬ 
tion of a few men who met in Philadelphia and in less than 
five months evolved out of their own minds a constitution 
unlike any that ever existed before, and under which, with 
but few material changes therein, the United States have 
grown from about three and a half millions of people to over 
ninety millions and have become one of the great nations 
of the world? No. Government is a growth. It is a de¬ 
velopment, a result of forces that have small beginnings, 
but which work on and on, sometimes through centuries 
and even thousands of years. Constitutions are a growth, 
as well. 'Through all the ages,” from the time the first 
English settlers started to America in pursuit of civil and 
religious liberty, "one increasing purpose runs,” and that 
purpose has been to establish and maintain a government 
which would make sure and permanent the civil and re¬ 
ligious liberties of the people. In tracing that growth we 
shall see how our republican form of government has grad¬ 
ually unfolded; how it began in small concessions from the 
kings, and how the people as they seized hold of each con¬ 
ceded right more and more came to consider themselves the 
source of all governmental power. 

♦Note. —In this chapter the author has followed closely the plan of John 
Fiske in his excellent “Civil Government of the United States.’’ published by 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

(6) 



CHARTER AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 


7 


7 , The Charters.—The germ of a written constitution 
existed a long time ago. We are indebted to the ancient 
Romans for it. It originated in a custom among them of 
regulating things by contracts. In this country business and 
all the affairs of life are regulated by contracts or agree¬ 
ments, but we owe that idea to the Romans. “It was after 
they had become thoroughly familiar with the idea of a con¬ 
tract,” says the learned John Fiske, “that the practice grew 
up of granting written charters to towns or other corporate 
bodies.” These charters were a kind of contract. For a 
certain amount of money to be paid or a certain number of 
soldiers or ships to be furnished, or for some other valuable 
thing, certain privileges or liberties were granted to the 
town by the king or feudal lord. What he granted to the 
town or company he expressed in a written paper, signed by 
himself, called a charter. The people sometimes called them 
“the title-deeds of their liberties.” And that is just what 
a constitution is—it is the charter of the people’s rights. 
From the idea behind these town charters came the Magna 
Charta—the Great Charter—of English liberty, in 1215, in 
which King John was forced to grant “to an accused the 
right to a trial by a jury of his own peers” and to concede 
to his barons many other privileges and liberties. From 
these town charters, also, came the idea which in later times 
prevailed in England for nearly two hundred years of grant¬ 
ing to settlements in the New World certain privileges. A 
charter then came to mean “a grant made by the sovereign 
either to the whole people or to a portion of them, securing 
to them the enjoyment of certain rights.” 

8. The First Charter.—In 1606 two great joint stock 
companies were organized in England, the London Com¬ 
pany and the Plymouth Company, for the purpose of estab¬ 
lishing settlements in North America. To the London Com¬ 
pany the king, James I, granted the coast between latitude 
34° and 38° north, or between the southeastern corner of 


8 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

what is now North Carolina and the mouth of the Potomac. 
The grant was to include all the territory between these 
two latitudes westward to the Pacific ocean. It therefore 
was a belt or zone four degrees wide from sea to sea. To 
the Plymouth Company he granted the coast between lati¬ 
tude 41° and 45°, or from about the site of the present city 
of New York to the southern boundary of New Brunswick. 
It, too, included all the territory from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. The zone which lay between these two was open 
to both companies, with the provision that neither should 
make a settlement within 100 miles of one already made by 
the other. To these companies the king gave one charter, 
in which he declared “that all persons, being our subjects, 
which shall go and inhabit within the said territory, and their 
children and posterity which shall happen to be born within 
any of the limits thereof, shall have and enjoy all liberties, 
franchises and immunities of free denizens and natural sub¬ 
jects within any of our other dominions, to all intents and 
purposes as if they had been abiding and born within our 
realm of England.” By this charter persons born within 
any of the three zones were given the same political rights 
as English freemen born in England. Upon these rights 
the colonists in America ever afterwards insisted, and when 
George III, in 1765-1775, undertook to take those rights 
from them, they went to war with him. 

9. The Settlement in Virginia.—The first settlement 
was made by the London Company, and in the lower belt, 
on the James river in Virginia, in 1607, and as the charter 
guaranteed to them the same privileges as were enjoyed by 
freemen of England, trial by jury was secured to the colo¬ 
nists and lands descended in Virginia as they did in Eng¬ 
land, that is, to the oldest son. In 1619, the colonists in 
Virginia obtained a modification of their charter by which 
a representative government was, in part, secured. By 


CHARTER AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 


9 


the terms of the charter the London Company was to be 
controlled by a council in England appointed by the king, 
and these in turn appointed a governor for the colony and 
a council of thirteen to reside in the colony, and now by 
this amendment was added a general assembly composed of 
two burgesses from each settlement or borough, elected by 
the inhabitants. The people supposed they were founding 
towns, and so they called each member of their assembly 
a burgess, that is, a representative of a borough, and they 
called the general assembly of their representatives the 
House of Burgesses, but as the years went by and no im¬ 
portant towns were built, but the inhabitants became more 
and more planters or farmers, counties were organized, and 
thereafter the burgesses sat for counties. Nevertheless, the 
name of their assembly continued to be known as the House 
of Burgesses until a new code of laws was established during 
the Revolutionary war. It was a truly representative body, 
and the first legislative body that ever sat in America, its 
first session being at Jamestown, July 30, 1619. It con¬ 
trolled the expenditure of public money raised by taxation, 
and determined the amount of general taxes to be annually 
raised for the colony. It was the lower house of the legislative 
assembly. “The governor always had a council to advise 
with him and assist him in The execution of his duties, in 
imitation of the King’s Privy Council in England, and this 
council took part in the work of legislation, and thus sat as 
an upper house, with more or less power of amending the 
acts” of the House of Burgesses, and it and the governor 
were considered as representing the king and as expressing 
his wishes, and hence his will was always potent, but never- 
the less the burgesses never ceased to insist on the terms of 
their charter which gave them the same political privileges 
and liberties Englishmen enjoyed at home. It is necessary 
to note that the council were never elected by the people, 
but after a time were appointed by the governor; and that 


10 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


the governor was at first appointed by the London Company, 
but later by the king, and hence, thereafter Virginia was 
called a “Crown Colony,” since the governor and council 
were supposed to speak the will of the crown or king of 
England. 

10. In Massachusetts.—The next settlement was in 
Massachusetts, in the northern zone, and its colonial gov¬ 
ernment was also organized in part under the charter granted 
to the London and Plymouth companies, but more largely 
under a charter granted in 1629 to the “Governor and Com¬ 
pany of Massachusetts Bay in New England.” The free¬ 
men of this company were to hold a meeting four times a 
year and were empowered to elect a governor and a council 
of eighteen assistants, who were to hold their meetings each 
month. Although the company was organized in London, 
nothing was said as to the place where these meetings were 
to be held, and “accordingly after a few months the company 
transferred itself and its charter to New England, in order 
that it might carry out its intentions with as little interfer¬ 
ence as possible on the part of the king.” After their arrival 
in Massachusetts the number of freemen increased so fast 
that it was impossible to have a primary assembly of all the 
freemen, and so the freemen of each town or township chose 
representatives to act for them, and a representative assem¬ 
bly was thus originated. These representatives were called 
Deputies. They did not sit for counties, as in Virginia, but 
for towns or townships, and so from that day to this the 
“town meeting” has been an important part of New England 
government. These Deputies at first sat in the same cham¬ 
ber with the Council of Assistants and with them constituted 
the legislative body, but in 1644 the legislature was divided 
into two chambers, the Deputies forming the lower house, 
while the Assistants, who were also called Magistrates, com¬ 
posed the upper house. This legislative body was called 
the General Court, a name the legislature of Massachusetts 


CHARTER AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 


11 


bears to this day. It was not only the legislative and gov¬ 
erning body, but at the first the highest judicial body of the 
colony, and hence the reason for calling it the General Court. 

It will be seen that this government was practically an 
independent republic. The freemen elected their Governor 
and their Deputies, and the Magistrates were nominated 
by the General Court and chosen by the people. A people 
who can make laws for themselves are independent, and if 
those laws are made by representatives, chosen by them¬ 
selves, and enforced by governors, also chosen by them¬ 
selves, their government is a republic. In Massachusetts 
the king could impose no effective checks upon the legisla¬ 
ture except by repealing the charter, or by appointing a 
Governor and Council himself, and backing them up with an 
army if resisted. Those things he often threatened to do, 
and both he did fifty or sixty years after the charter to the 
Massachusetts Bay Company had been granted, for the Gen¬ 
eral Court permitted only members of the Puritan or Con¬ 
gregational Church to vote, a thing very distasteful to the 
king. So in 1684 he annulled the charter, and placed the 
colony under a military viceroy, but eight years later, or in 
1692, a new charter was sent over, under which the people 
were allowed to elect representatives to the General Court, 
as before, but the Governor thereafter was to be appointed 
by the king, and all acts of the General Court were to be 
sent to the king for his approval. Thus the government of 
Massachusetts became similar to that of Virginia, and re¬ 
mained so down to the Revolution, and hence both of these 
great colonies were thereafter known as “Crown Colonies,” 
because they were under the king’s immediate control. But 
in no crown colony, or in any other, were the people ever 
taxed to support the king or the English government. In 
all the colonies taxes originated with the assemblies chosen 
by the people, and those assemblies determined how those 
taxes should be expended. 


12 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


New Hampshire, which at the first was practically a 
part of Massachusetts, was in 1679 made a crown colony. 

11. Proprietary Colonies.—In 1624 the subservient 
courts of England, at the request of the king, annulled the 
charter of the London Company, and in 1635 the Plymouth 
Company surrendered its charter. This proved the down¬ 
fall of those companies, and after that the king gave lands 
in America, especially those lying within the middle zone, 
to his favorites. He thus gave Maryland to Lord Baltimore, 
and Pennsylvania and Delaware to William Penn. 

The charter of Maryland invested Lord Baltimore with 
very extensive privileges and powers over the land and colo¬ 
nists. He “was made absolute lord of the land and waters, 
could erect towns, cities and ports, make war or peace, levy 
tolls and duties, establish courts, appoint judges and other 
civil officers, and pardon offenders.” But he could make 
laws only “with the assent of the freemen of the province.” 
For this extensive grant he was to pay the king a small 
tribute—two Indian arrows yearly and one-fifth the gold 
and silver mined. And the king further bound himself and 
his successors to lay no taxes or customs upon the people of 
the province. He gave Baltimore the title of Lord Propri¬ 
etary of Maryland, and this title and these powers were 
made hereditary in his family. The government was car¬ 
ried on by a governor and a legislature of two houses. The 
lord proprietary appointed the governor and the members of 
the upper house, but the members of the lower house here, 
as in Virginia and Massachusetts, were chosen by the peo¬ 
ple, “and in accordance with the time-honored English 
custom all taxation must originate in this lower house.” 

The proprietary government of Pennsylvania was some¬ 
what similar to Maryland’s. Penn was the lord proprietary, 
and the office was hereditary in the Penn family, and this 
officer appointed one governor for both Pennsylvania and 


CHARTER AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 


13 


Delaware, but each had its own legislature chosen by the 
people. This legislature had only one house. The council, 
which was appointed by the proprietary lord, advised the 
governor and aided him in governing the province, but took 
no part in legislation. 

These two colonies were called proprietary colonies be¬ 
cause the lands were granted, not to a company or the set¬ 
tlers, but to a feudal lord, who appointed their governors 
and exercised almost kingly authority over them. 

12. New York and New Jersey.—There were also 
other crown colonies besides Virginia, Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire. The principal ones were New York, New 
Jersey, the Carolinas and Georgia. New Netherland was 
first settled by the Dutch, but in 1664 the English conquered 
it from them, and the king of England granted it to his 
brother, the Duke of York, and thus it became a proprietary 
colony, and took the name of New York, but in 1685 this 
same duke ascended the throne as James II, and so New 
York thereby became a crown colony, its governors from 
that time on being appointed by the king. The English had 
also conquered from the Dutch the country lying between 
the Hudson and Delaware, and it too was granted to the 
Duke of York, who in turn granted it to two of his friends, 
Berkeley and Carteret, and thus marked off the colony of 
New Jersey. It thus became for a time a proprietary colony, 
sometimes under one government, sometimes divided be¬ 
tween two, but in 1702 the rights of the lords proprietary 
were surrendered to the crown, and thereafter New Jersey 
was a crown colony. 

13. In the Carolinas and Georgia.—The provinces 
of North and South Carolina and Georgia were carved out 
of territory once embraced within Virginia. There were 
among their settlers, especially in South Carolina, some 
French Huguenots, but the government of all the provinces 


14 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


was English. At first this was proprietary, but proprietary 
governments were not popular in America. The proprie¬ 
tary lords usually resided in England, and seldom visited 
their colonies. They looked upon them as sources of per¬ 
sonal income, and so long as the amounts demanded were 
peaceably paid they took little interest in the settlers or 
their affairs. They often appointed worthless favorites to 
office in the colonies for whose support the colonists were 
taxed, and this became a source of constant contention be¬ 
tween the inhabitants and their lords proprietary. So these 
proprietary charters were after awhile surrendered to the 
king, and these colonies then took on the form of government 
which Virginia had. That is, their governors were appointed 
by the king, and hence they too became crown colonies. 
But there was yet another kind. 

14. The Republican Colonies.—Connecticut and 
Rhode Island were early settled by persons from Massachu¬ 
setts and it was very natural that their governments were 
like that of Massachusetts, as those of the Carolinas were 
similar to that of Virginia. There the governors, councils 
and assemblies were elected by the people, just as they had 
been by the freemen of each township in the early days of 
Massachusetts. Thus they made their own governments, 
and in 1662 these were confirmed by charters from the king, 
and these charters were never repealed, but so thoroughly 
republican were these governments, that they remained un¬ 
changed until long after the Revolution. 

15. Marked Features of Colonial Governments.— 

Thus we have set forth the three kinds of government that 
obtained for all the years before the Revolution among the 
thirteen colonies that first formed the United States of 
America. These were, first, crown colonies, whose gov¬ 
ernors the king appointed, and whose laws were subject to 
his approval, although enacted by a legislature chosen by 


CHARTER AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. 


15 


the people; second, proprietary colonies, whose governors 
and councils were appointed by a hereditary lord, but whose 
laws were enacted by legislatures chosen by the people; and, 
third, republican colonies, whose governors, councilors and 
legislators were chosen by the people. The governments 
of all these existed under charters from the king, and those 
charters always fixed a boundary to the king’s authority, 
and also to the people’s rights. We will see further on how 
the people of the various colonies enlarged the governments 
which had grown up under these charters into independent 
States existing under written constitutions, and then organ¬ 
ized these States into a nation called the United States of 
America. 

Questions on Chapter II. 

1. Is government an invention or a development? (6) 

2. What purpose runs through American history? (6) 

3. In what did written constitutions originate? (7) 

4. ^Who granted charters and what for? (7) 

5. What did a charter come to mean? (7) 

6. To what companies were the first American charters granted? (8) 

7. What did he grant the London Company? (8) 

8. What did he grant the Plymouth Company? (8) 

9. What about the zone lying between these two? (8) 

10. What guaranty did this charter contain? (8) 

11. What rights did America obtain by that charter? (8) 

12. What was the first settlement? (9) 

13. What two things were secured through their charter? (9) 

14. How was Virginia to be governed under their charter? (9) 

15. What great privilege came as a result of a modification of the 

charter? (9) 

16. Why did the people call their assembly the House of 

Burgesses? (9) 

17. How long did the House of Burgesses last? (9) 

18. What was the House of Burgesses? (9) 

19. What did it always control and determine? (9) 

20. Where was the next settlement? (10) 

21. Under what charter? (10) 

22. How were the governor and council chosen? (10) 


16 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


23. Why did they abandon their primary assembly? (10) 

24. What is said about a democracy in section 2 ? (2) 

25. What did the Massachusetts freemen substitute for their pri¬ 

mary assembly? (10) 

26. What did the deputies represent? (10) 

27. What is said about town meetings? (10) 

28. How was the legislature divided? (10) 

29. What was it called and why? (10) 

30. How were the deputies, assistants and governor elected? (10) 

31. What kind of government was this? (10) 

32. How could the king thwart the legislature? (10) 

33. What changes did the new charter make? (10) 

34. What kind of colony did Massachusetts now become? (10) 

35. What were the proprietary colonies? (11) 

36. What powers did the king give to Baltimore? (11) 

37. How was the Maryland legislature composed and chosen? (11) 

38. Where did taxes originate in Maryland? (11) 

39. What is said of Pennsylvania and Delaware? (11) 

40. Why were these called proprietary colonies? (11) 

41. What other crown colonies were there? (12) 

42. What is said of New York? of New Jersey? (12) 

43. Of Georgia and the Carolinas? (13) 

44. What was the character of their government and what is said 

of lords proprietary? (13) 

45. Describe the republican colonies. (14) 

46. State the difference between the three classes of colonies. (15) 

47. What purpose did the charter serve? (15) 

48. Into what were charter governments enlarged? (15) 


CHAPTER III. 

THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN STATES AND THE UNION. 

16. The Breaking up of Colonial Governments.— 

In each of the colonies the people were taxed for the sup¬ 
port of the colony’s government, and the assemblies chosen 
by them had almost from the beginning determined how 
much that tax should be. They would not permit their 
governors or their king to determine the amount of their 



THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN STATES. 


17 


taxes. They claimed that no taxes could be imposed on 
English freemen anywhere except such as were approved by 
their representatives. No colony had ever had a repre¬ 
sentative in Parliament, and hence the colonies always in¬ 
sisted that Parliament had no right to impose taxes on them. 
“Taxation without representation is intolerable and unjust,” 
they said; and this claim of the colonies went undisputed 
until about 1765, and then when Parliament began to pass 
laws taxing them, their assemblies disputed its authority 
and called on the people not to pay them. Thus began a 
contest over the power of Parliament to tax the colonies 
which lasted for ten years and culminated in the Revolu¬ 
tionary war. 

In Virginia and Massachusetts the action of the assem¬ 
blies in disputing Parliament’s right to tax the colonies and 
to force them by arms to yield to its authority, brought 
down on them the resentment of their governors, who re¬ 
taliated by dissolving the assemblies. “During the few 
years preceding the Revolution, the assemblies were so often 
dissolved by the governors that it became necessary for the 
people to devise some new way of getting their representa¬ 
tives together to act for the colonies.” These assemblies 
at first were called conventions. Through them in time 
the people established new legislatures of their own, and in 
the end complete governments of their own. The way this 
was done will be illustrated by setting forth what went on 
in Virginia. 

17. Provisional Governments. —When the House of 
Burgesses passed resolutions making the cause of Massa¬ 
chusetts their own, and calling on all the colonies to do the 
same, the governors dissolved the Assembly. A few of the 
bolder members, like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and 
Richard Henry Lee, immediately met at a hotel and agreed 
upon a line of action, and having made that known they 

2 


18 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


were propmptly re-elected Burgesses by the people. On re¬ 
assembling, the House of Burgesses was again dissolved by 
the governor for taking action in defiance of the king. These 
same patriots, now joined by others, again assembled at the 
hotel and again agreed upon a line of action for the colony. 
They called on all the counties to send delegates to a con¬ 
vention to be held in Williamsburg. They did so and that 
convention proceeded to elect delegates to a Continental 
Congress to be held in Philadelphia, in September, 1774. 
The next spring the. governor. Lord Dunmore, was, by an 
armed force under Patrick Henry, driven from his palace, 
and took refuge on a man-of-war, having, however, before 
his flight convened the House of Burgesses which, after 
having called another session of the convention and thereby 
lent authority to its existence, adjourned in July, 1775, and 
this was the end of the House of Burgesses. It never after¬ 
wards held another session. The convention called by it 
appointed a ''Committee of Safety,” consisting of eleven dis¬ 
tinguished men, to take charge of the executive affairs of 
the colony. Dunmore, after being defeated in battle, re¬ 
turned to England, and so the convention at its next session 
in May adopted a bill of rights and a written constitution— 
the first adopted in America. This constitution provided 
for: (1) a legislative body consisting of a house of delegates 
and a senate, to be elected by the owners of land; (2) a gov¬ 
ernor, to be chosen by the legislative body; (3) a council of 
eight members, to be also chosen in the same way; and (4) 
trial courts and an appellate court, to be chosen by the As¬ 
sembly. Patrick Henry was chosen the first governor. Thus 
Virginia became an independent republic. There were no 
more governors appointed by the king. Henceforth, the 
people would govern themselves, under a constitution and 
laws of their own making. 

18. The Rise of the States. —In Massachusetts, New 
York and other crown colonies the royal governors were put 


THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN STATES. 


19 


aside in much the same way as in Virginia. Committees of 
safety were appointed to manage the affairs of the colony 
until a convention chosen by the people met and framed a 
written constitution, under which the people chose their own 
legislature and governors and provided for their own courts. 
The word “colony” now disappeared. Each began to call 
itself a “State” or “Commonwealth,” and from that time on 
they have been so designated. An independent republic is 
not a colony; it is either a commonwealth or a state. 

19. The Formation of the Union.—But the success¬ 
ful breaking away of the colonies from the dominion of the 
king left each free to go its own way. There was no central 
authority to bind and hold them together. Each was free 
to defy the king single-handed and alone, and to try to make 
a separate nation of itself, absolutely independent of all the 
other colonies and of all the rest of the world; or it could if 
the other colonies were willing unite with them in winning 
their independence and in a permanent union. The col¬ 
onies were quick to see that they could succeed in their war 
only by uniting. Their interests were the same, their griev¬ 
ances much the same, their inhabitants very- much alike in 
speech, religion, blood and love of liberty. “United we 
stand, divided we fall,” they said. The same men who led 
the people into resisting the king and Parliament also led 
them towards forming a union. 

20. The First Attempt.—“In 1754, just as the final 
struggle between the English and the French in America was 
beginning, Benjamin Franklin brought fonvard his famous 
plan for a federal union; and this plan was laid before a con¬ 
gress held in Albany for renewing an alliance with the Six 
Nations of Indians.” Only seven colonies were represented 
in this congress. This is the first time the word “Congress” 
was applied to any American body, and this was the first 
attempt at federation. 


20 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


21. The Colonial Congress.—In Boston soon after 
Parliament had passed the hateful Stamp Act in 1765, it was 
proposed, under the lead of James Otis, that a general con¬ 
gress of all the colonies be held in New York to be composed 
of delegates from each colony chosen without leave of the 
king. South Carolina was the first to respond to that call. 
In response to it there was held in New York on October 7, 
1765, what has since been known, for want of a better name, 
as the Colonial Congress. It met before some of the colonies 
received notice of the call, but nevertheless delegates from 
nine colonies were present. Nothing, however, was done 
beyond the drawing up of a declaration of rights, in which 
it was declared that the American colonies would not consent 
to be taxed except by their own representatives. 

22. The Continental Congress.—In the spring of 
1773, the Virginia House of Burgesses, "sensible that the 
most urgent of all measures was that of coming to an under¬ 
standing with all the colonies, to consider the British claims 
as a common cause, and to produce a unity of action,” de¬ 
vised a plan for "Committees of Correspondence” between 
the colonies. Out of this action grew the Continental Con¬ 
gress. A "committee of correspondence,” of which Peyton 
Randolph, the Speaker of the Burgesses, was chairman, was 
appointed, which prepared a circular letter to the speakers 
of the assemblies of the other colonies. The other colonies 
eagerly fell in with the plan, and thus each legislative body 
was kept constantly informed of what was going on in all the 
other colonies. United action was the result. From that 
time on the colonies more and more acted together. In the 
spring of 1774, Parliament undertook to shut up the Boston 
port, revoked the charter of Massachusetts, and forbade the 
meeting of its General Court. In Virginia the leading pa¬ 
triots determined to "stand in line with Massachusetts,” and 
their committee of correspondence proposed to the like com- 


THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN STATES. 


21 


mittees in the other colonies, "to appoint deputies to meet 
in Congress annually, at such place as should be convenient.” 
The other colonies acceded to the plan, and Philadelphia was 
chosen as the place, and September 5, 1774, as the time. 
Every colony except two was represented. This Congress 
met again in May, 1775, and organized the "Continental 
Army” and elected George Washington its commander. This 
Congress was called "continental” to distinguish it from 
"provincial congresses” which had lately been held in several 
of the colonies. It was not a parliament; it was a congress, 
that is, an assembly composed of delegates of the States; for 
Thomas Jefferson tells us that they came with "instructions 
very temperately and properly expressed,” which had been 
given them by the conventions choosing them, and these 
instructions defined and limited their authority. They were 
expected to obey them, and to undertake to do nothing that 
their instructions forbade them to do. After its session in 
May, 1775, to which all the colonies sent delegates, the Con¬ 
tinental Congress became a continuous body until it became 
apparent that the new Constitution providing for the Con¬ 
gress now existing in Washington would be adopted, and 
then in 1788 it went out of existence, having died of old age. 

23. Independence.—On July 4, 1776, the Continental 
Congress proclaimed the Declaration of Independence, in 
which it declared that all political connection between "these 
United Colonies” and Great Britain "is and ought to be 
totally dissolved.” This declaration would be made good if 
the colonies won the war then waging. If they won, they 
would in fact be "free and independent States.” They did 
win, and hence "all political connection” with Great Britain 
was at an end. 

24. National Unity.—That political connection had 
given them a national unity. They had all been American 
colonies in subjection to the English king, and his admitted 


22 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


authority over each had been the tie that bound them to¬ 
gether as a part of a great nation. But that bond was now 
broken, that authority they had thrown off, and now they 
had no '‘political connection” with any other nation or with 
each other. They were much alike, they had locked arms 
and were now fighting their common king, and meant to live 
under laws of their own making, but they were not united 
into a nation. They were not only "free and independent 
states,” but they were independent of each other, separate 
from each other. They had come together in Continental 
Congress for the purpose of fighting the war. That alone 
made their united efforts a mere league, which could be dis¬ 
solved when the war was over. But if they were to become 
a nation they must unite with each other permanently, must 
form a political bond that would bind them together, not 
only for the war, but for all time. They, therefore, under¬ 
took to form a "perpetual union between the States^” but 
they were long in doing it. They tried it through two writ¬ 
ten constitutions. The first was the Articles of Confedera¬ 
tion. 

25. The Articles of Confederation.—Four days after 
the committee was appointed to prepare the Declaration of 
Independence, another was named to frame "articles of con¬ 
federation and perpetual union” between the thirteen States, 
but it was November 15, 1777, before the Continental Con¬ 
gress agreed upon what those articles should contain. They 
were to be binding on all the States when the legislative as¬ 
sembly of each of the thirteen authorized its delegates in Con¬ 
gress to sign the Articles on behalf of their State. This was 
not done until the first of March, 1781, and even then it was 
found that "the perpetual union” the Articles provided for 
was a rope of sand. They created a mere confederacy be¬ 
tween the States and not a real government. 

They provided for a Congress to consist of one house and 
to be composed of not more than seven nor less than two 


THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 


23 


members from each State, to be annually chosen as the legis¬ 
lature thereof should direct. But the delegates voted by 
States and not as individuals, that is, each State had one vote, 
and it took the vote of nine States to enact a law or pass a 
bill. They provided for no President, but only a ‘‘Commit¬ 
tee of the States,” to consist of one member from each State, 
to act for the Confederacy during the recesses of Congress. 
The Congress had no authority to levy taxes or impost du¬ 
ties. Money to carry on the war and to pay the other ex¬ 
penses of the Confederacy was to be furnished by the several 
States, in proportion to the amount of land sold or surveyed 
for private persons within each State. The Congress deter¬ 
mined each State’s share, and the legislature thereof was re¬ 
quired to levy a tax on its inhabitants for that amount, but 
if a State refused to make the levy the Congress had no way 
to punish it or to collect the tax. The Congress was given 
power to enact laws on many subjects, but if these were 
violated the Confederacy had no power to punish the vio¬ 
lators, for the Articles provided for no courts. The Congress 
had contracted a very large debt to carry on the war, and 
when it called on the States to furnish it money to pay this, 
several of them refused, and it was without power to compel 
them to pay. Therefore, an amendment was proposed, which 
would give Congress authority to impose an impost or tariff 
tax of five per cent. But the articles themselves provided 
that they could be amended only by the vote of every State, 
and Rhode Island held back. So the Congress became a 
thing without power. It was not a sovereign, for no gov¬ 
ernment is a sovereignty that cannot raise taxes for its own 
support. It could not pay its debts, and had no authority 
to force the collection of money for any purpose, and no au¬ 
thority to punish any State which failed to keep faith with 
the rest. The ‘‘Continental” money which it issued became 
practically worthless, and the authority of the Confederacy 
was sneered at and derided on every hand. Its power began 


24 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


to wane immediately on the restoration of peace, and con¬ 
tinued to do so until it began to look as if the union, which 
the Articles had said should be perpetual, would fall to pieces. 

26. A Second Constitution is Framed.—It was ap¬ 
parent that a new constitution must be framed or a union of 
the States abandoned. As a result, an attempt to “form a 
more perfect union” was begun. In addition to the utter 
failure of the Confederacy and the attempt to amend and 
patch up the Articles of Confederation, two or three other 
things united to hasten on that attempt and to fasten public 
attention on the necessity of a union strong enough to stand 
alone. 

The first of these was the Shays Rebellion in Massachu¬ 
setts in the fall of 1786. That State as a result of the war was 
heavily in debt, as all the others were, and the taxes it levied 
on land were excessive, and the homes of the people were 
being sold, under orders of the courts, not only to pay taxes 
but their private debts as well. Daniel Shays, late a captain 
in the Continental Army, rallied a large number of farmers 
and citizens of small means in the western part of the State, 
and openly defied the laws and resisted the authority of the 
courts. For some time neither the sheriff nor the governor 
was strong enough to put down these rebels, and their suc¬ 
cess alarmed the friends of order throughout the land and 
hastened on the movement for a real union. 

The other was a conflict in the tariff laws made by the 
several States. Under the Articles of Confederation each 
State could levy such impost duties as it pleased upon goods 
shipped to it directly from foreign countries, but could not 
impose any duties upon goods shipped to it from other States. 
Virginia laid duties on certain articles, but Maryland did not. 
So it came about that goods were landed in Maryland free 
of duty, and then sent across the Potomac or Chesapeake 
into Virginia, free of duty again, because now they came from 
a sister State. Thus the tariff laws of Virginia were dodged 


THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 


25 


and made inoperative. To remedy this condition, the legis¬ 
latures of both States in 1785 appointed commissioners to 
meet and adjust their mutual rights. But when these came 
together it was found that a similar condition might arise at 
any time between Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, 
and therefore one of them, James Madison, who had for some 
time been planning for a convention to devise a new scheme 
of union, induced the commissioners to agree to ask their re¬ 
spective legislatures to invite these three States to also send 
commissioners to a convention to be held in Annapolis in 
September, 1786. But when Madison returned home he in¬ 
duced Virginia to extend the invitation so as to include all 
the States. Alexander Hamilton also stirred up New York 
to send delegates also, but before the time came for the con¬ 
vention Maryland drew back. The convention was held at 
Annapolis at the appointed time, but there were delegates 
present from only five States, Virginia, New York, New Jer¬ 
sey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. They did little except to 
formally recommend to all the States to send delegates to 
another convention to be held in Philadelphia in May, 1787, 
to “devise such measures as would render the Articles of Con¬ 
federation adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” 

And now George Washington steps forward again in be¬ 
half of his country. In an autograph letter to Madison he 
expressed the earnest wish that “Virginia would take the lead 
in promoting the great and arduous work of reconstruction.” 
“When Virginia lifted the golden roll of her delegates” and 
showed the name of George Washington at the head of the 
column, the whole country thrilled with joy. Pennsylvania 
headed her list with the name of the great Benjamin Franklin, 
and New York sent Hamilton. When the convention met in 
May, 1787, there were 55 delegates present from 12 States, 
Rhode Island alone holding aloof. George Washington was 
elected president, and his name appears upon the Constitu¬ 
tion it framed as its first signer. This convention, known 


26 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


ever afterward as the Constitutional Convention, repre¬ 
sented the wealth, the education, the conservatism and the 
patriotism of the States. Possibly no abler or wiser body of 
men ever met in legislative council in the wide world. The 
local jealousies and the conflicting interests of the several 
States contended with each other, and the fear that a gov¬ 
ernment might be formed which would become an unman¬ 
ageable tyrant made the delegates hesitant and cautious. 
Often they were on the point of dissolving without having 
come to any understanding, but then, as at all other times, 
their good sense and patriotism prevailed, and before adjourn¬ 
ment they framed a constitution which has since been the in¬ 
spiration and admiration of liberty-loving men everywhere. 
They were wiser than they knew. The federal Union, for¬ 
mally inaugurated as a result of their work, has become the 
mightiest nation in the world, and yet, although there have 
been fifteen amendments, there has really been no funda¬ 
mental change in the Constitution they framed even to this 
day, nor does there seem to be need for any. 

27. How the Constitution Was Framed.—James 
Madison has justly been called the “Father of the Constitu¬ 
tion,” for it was largely written by him, but all the delegates 
had some part in framing it, notably Edmund Randolph of 
Virginia, Hamilton of New York, Dickinson of New Jersey, 
James Wilson and Franklin of Pennsylvania, Charles Pinck¬ 
ney of South Carolina and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. 
The Virginia delegates had met in caucus and agreed upon a 
plan of union, and this plan was brought forward on behalf 
of Virginia by Edmund Randolph, afterwards the first Attor¬ 
ney-General of the United States. Other delegates, among 
them Charles Pinckney of South Carolina and Alexander 
Hamilton of New York, brought forward other plans, but it 
was the Virginia plan, which had really been written by 
Madison, that became the basis for the instrument finally 
agreed upon. But the convention remained in session until 


THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 


27 


September, and every clause in the Virginia plan was consid¬ 
ered by sub-committees and in the committee of the whole, 
and many of them were stricken out and others substituted 
in their stead, and others modified. So that the instrument 
as finally submitted for ratification cannot be said to be the 
work of one man, nor of one delegation, but of all the dele¬ 
gates and of all the twelve States represented. 

28. How Adopted.—The Constitution provided that 
‘‘the ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be 
sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between 
the States so ratifying it,” and March 4, 1789, was fixed as the 
day for commencing the operations of government under it. 
It was meant to supersede the Articles of Confederation. It 
was, therefore, sent by the Constitutional Convention to the 
Continental Congress, eighteen of whose members had been 
members of the convention which framed it. The Continen¬ 
tal Congress directed it to “be transmitted to the several leg¬ 
islatures in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates 
chosen in each State by the people thereof.” It was thus 
really submitted to the people, for in choosing delegates to 
their conventions the people decided between candidates who 
had declared themselves either for or against its adoption. 
Twelve States through their conventions had adopted it by 
July 26, 1788. Rhode Island did not adopt it until after 
George Washington had been inaugurated the first President, 
and hence the Government’s authority did not extend to 
that State until it had done so. 

The clause establishing the Constitution only “between 
the States so ratifying it” was its salvation. Without that 
clause it could never have been adopted, and the Union would 
have collapsed. It had been impossible to amend the Arti¬ 
cles of Confederation, because that instrument required the 
unanimous consent of all the States, and Rhode Island had 
declined to give its consent, and now the same State had not 
only refused to send delegates to the Constitutional Conven- 


28 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


tion, but held back in the ratification of the Constitution 
until after the new government was fairly inaugurated. Be¬ 
sides, it was only after a long and painful contest that Virginia 
and New York were brought around to ratify it. Had it 
required the adoption of every State it is likely that several 
would have rejected it. To have declared it in force over all 
as soon as nine had adopted it, would have been unjust to the 
State refusing its assent and would, therefore, also have de¬ 
feated it. The provision that it was not to be considered 
established until nine States adopted it, and then only “be¬ 
tween those so ratifying it,” made its adoption certain, be¬ 
cause it was seen from the beginning that as soon as nine 
ratified it the others would fall into line and do the same. 

The fact that the Continental Congress had directed the 
Constitution to be submitted to the States for ratification, 
shut off any right on its part to question the authority of the 
new Constitution after it had been adopted. It, therefore, as 
soon as it became apparent that enough States would ratify 
it to establish a government thereunder, adjourned never to 
meet again. 

Thus we have in this and the preceding chapter traced 
the progress of the Americans towards republican government 
from the time the first settlers received their charters from 
the hands of English kings to the adoption of the “Constitu¬ 
tion of the United States of America.” In the succeeding 
chapters will be explained the principal features of that Con¬ 
stitution and the various parts of the government. And here 
it will be well to remember that the Union or “political con¬ 
nection” which resulted from the adoption of the Constitu¬ 
tion was formed by those people, and those only, that lived 
within the eleven degrees of latitude mentioned in the first 
charter to the London and Plymouth Companies, as described 
in the first few sections of the preceding chapter; and also that 
a written constitution, although adopted by the people as 
their fundamental law and framed by delegates chosen by 


THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN UNION. 


29 


them, is an enlargement of the idea contained in a charter, 
and that a charter is the outgrowth of the idea that is con¬ 
tained in a charter—that is, that it is a chart for the law¬ 
maker and the courts, and is an agreement which both they 
and the people are bound by and must keep. 

Questions on Chapter III. 

1. On what right did the colonists ever insist? (16) 

2. What was the effect of trying to tax them? (16) 

3. What was the effect of their resentment? (16) 

4. After their assemblies were dissolved how did the people devise 
to carry on their governments? (16) 

5. Explain fully the origin of provisional government in Virginia. 

(17) 

6. What were the four distinctive provisions of the Virginia Con¬ 
stitution? (17) 

7. What was said of provisional government in other States? (18) 

8. By what name did colonies now begin to be called? (18) 

9. What was the effect of breaking away from the king, and what 
the need of union? (19) 

10. What was the first attempt at union? (20) 

11. What is said of the Colonial Congress? (21) 

12. Explain fully the origin and work of the “Committees of Corre¬ 
spondence.” (22) 

13. What is said of the Continental Congress? (22) 

14. What was the effect of the Declaration of Independence? (23) 

15. What had been the tie that bound the colonies together? (24) 

16. What did they try to substitute for that “political connection?” 

(24) 

17. What was the first written constitution? (24) 

18. When were they to be binding on all the States? (25) 

19. Did they create union? (25) 

20. Explain fully why they did not. (25) 

21. How did one small State balk the union? (25) 

22. Why was not the Confederacy a sovereignty? (25) 

23. What was next attempted? (26) 

24. Describe the first cause that hastened on the attempt. (26) 

25. Describe each step of the second cause. (26) 

26. What great men figured in the movement? (26) 

27. What did Washington do? (26) 


30 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

28. What is said of the Convention’s work? (26) 

29. Describe how the Constitution was framed. (27) 

30. How was it ratified? (28) 

31. Did the people have anything to say about its adoption? How? 

(28) 

32. What little clause probably secured its adoption and why? (28) 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW. 

29. The Authority of the Constitution.—The Con¬ 
stitution is the fundamental law of the United States. It is 
the supreme law of the land. All laws of Congress or of any 
State in conflict with it are void, and every officer of the 
Union and all important officers of the States are required 
before entering into office to take an oath to support it. How¬ 
ever much a new law may be desired by the people, if it is in 
conflict with the Constitution it must fail, and the only way 
it can be enacted so as to be legally enforced is by first chang¬ 
ing the Constitution itself, which can be done only in the way 
designated by it. It is a short instrument, covering less than 
twenty pages of an ordinary book, but it states what are the 
powers of the Union over its citizens and over the States, and 
its general duties towards them, and their rights thereunder. 
The Union’s powers are, therefore, defined by it, and in re¬ 
turn for the surrender by the people and the States of these 
powers to the Union, there is imposed on the Union the duty 
of guaranteeing to each State a republican form of govern¬ 
ment. All powers not delegated by it to the Union, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, it declares, are reserved to the 
States or to the people. It is, at once, the charter, the 
anchor, the high tower, of American liberty. 

30. Preamble.—The reason and purposes of the Con¬ 
stitution are set forth in a few short clauses at its beginning. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW. 


31 


These are called the preamble, and are in these words: 'We, 
the people of the United States, in order to form a more per¬ 
fect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, pro¬ 
vide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, 
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos¬ 
terity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the 
United States of America.” Different interpretations 
given to these few words have caused the formation of par¬ 
ties, and led to heated political contentions. One class of 
citizens has held that the chief duty of government is “to 
promote the general welfare,” and hence has advocated gen¬ 
eral improvements and the ownership of canals and railroads 
by the Government; another party has contended that “to 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” 
is the real purpose, not only of the Union, but of all govern¬ 
ment. But it is not right to divide the preamble. One 
clause is as binding as another. And the same rule applies 
to the whole Constitution. It is all equally binding. 

31. Amendments.—But the Constitution is not ex¬ 
actly as it was when first adopted. It has been changed by 
adding to it fifteen “amendments.” These have the same 
force and effect as the original instrument. They were made 
a part of the Constitution by being proposed by two-thirds 
of both houses of Congress to the legislatures of the several 
States, and by being adopted by at least three-fourths of the 
legislatures of the States. 

32. Divisions of the Government.—The Constitu¬ 
tion provided for a government of three great departments— 
the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The judicial 
department consists of the courts; the legislative, of Con¬ 
gress; and the executive, of the President. The functions of 
each department cannot be fully stated in a few simple words. 
But in general terms it may be said that the legislative de¬ 
partment makes the laws, the judicial interprets them, and 


32 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


the executive enforces them as thus interpreted. The three 
departments are necessary for the orderly working of a re¬ 
publican government. 

Questions on Chapter IV. 

1. What is the fundamental law of the land? (29) 

2. Suppose a law is in conflict with the Constitution? (29) 

3. What does the Constitution guarantee to each State? (29) 

4. What powers are reserved? (29) 

5. What is the preamble? (30) 

6. What parts of the Constitution are binding? (30) 

7. How many amendments? (31) 

8. How were these obtained? (31) 

9. Into what three departments is the government divided? (32) 

10. What in general terms are the functions of each? (32) 


CHAPTER V. 

THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 

33. Congress.—The legislative powers of the United 
States government are vested in the Congress, which is a law¬ 
making body composed of two houses, the Senate and the 
House of Representatives. The Senate is sometimes, in pop¬ 
ular phrase, spoken of as the Upper House, and the other as 
the Lower House. But neither is so designated in the Con¬ 
stitution or laws, and as they meet in different chambers sit¬ 
uated on the same floor of the Capitol neither is upper or 
lower in point of location. These words are supposed by 
some persons to designate what was intended at the first to be 
the relative rank of the two houses, but that distinction finds 
no support in the Constitution, for it would be difficult to de¬ 
termine from that instrument which is given the higher rank, 
for to the House alone is given the power to originate bills 
for raising revenue, while the Senate, in conjunction with the 
President, can make treaties without the concurrence of the 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


33 


House, and treaties are a part of the supreme law of the land. 
The truth is, that the use of these words was borrowed from 
the custom which prevailed in several of the colonies of desig¬ 
nating the Council, which was appointed usually by the 
Governor, as the Upper House, and the Assembly, which was 
chosen by the people, as the Lower House. But the kingly 
days have gone by, and the designation of the two houses 
of Congress as Upper and Lower has long since ceased to 
have any real significance, although the use of the words, as 
a short and convenient method of designating them, still 
survives. 

34. House of Representatives.—The House is com¬ 
posed of Representatives elected by the direct vote of the 
people. It is, therefore, spoken of as the “popular branch” 
of Congress. It is descended from the colonial assemblies, 
and like them is alone vested with authority to originate 
measures for Federal taxation. Tariff bills and other bills 
for raising revenue originate in the House, but these may be 
modified in the Senate, and nearly always are, for if the Sen¬ 
ate could not change them as it deems best, there would be 
small need for two houses. But even after such changes are 
made, the House yet has the right to say whether it will 
accept them or not. Every State, however few its inhabit¬ 
ants, is entitled to at least one Representative, and the ad¬ 
ditional number to which it is entitled depends on the whole 
number of pe^;sons it has, excluding Indians not taxed. Each 
organized Territory is entitled to one delegate in the House, 
and such delegate has all the privileges of a Representative 
except that of voting. The Representatives vote as individ¬ 
uals on all subjects except when they are called upon to 
decide a Presidential contest, and then they vote by States; 
that is, in such case, which fortunately is exceedingly rare, 
each State has one vote, and what that vote shall be is de¬ 
termined by the majority of its Representatives. 

3 


34 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

35. Qualij&cations.—A Representative must be twen¬ 
ty-five years old, must have been a citizen of the United 
States for seven years, and must be an inhabitant of the State 
from which he is elected, but need not be a resident of the 
district by which he is chosen, though he usually is. The 
term of a Representative is two years, and if a vacancy occurs 
another election must be held to fill it. The Governor has 
no authority to fill such vacancy by appointment, as in case 
of a vacancy in the Senate, but it is his duty to call a special 
election for the purpose, at the time prescribed by the laws 
of the particular State. 

36. The Speaker.—The presiding officer of the House 
is the Speaker. He is elected by its members from their own 
number. He has usually been permitted to appoint all its 
committees, and that gave him a very large power over all 
its acts and proceedings; but the House at any time may pre¬ 
scribe that the committee assignments be made by a special 
committee chosen by it for that purpose, or be elected by the 
House itself, and of late the power to .appoint committees 
has been largely taken out of his hands. Nevertheless, be¬ 
cause of his power in shaping legislation, he is, next to the 
President, the most important officer of the Government. 

37. Apportionment and Manner of Electing Rep¬ 
resentatives.—For ascertaining the number of Represen¬ 
tatives each State is entitled to, the Constitution requires 
that a census of the people be taken every tei\ years, or that 
they be counted. Congress then declares that each State 
shall have one Representative for a certain number of per¬ 
sons, which is not to be less than 30,000. This number is 
called the apportionment unit, and for the current decade is 
about 211,877, and the whole number of Representatives, 
since New Mexico and Arizona became States, is 435, and the 
number to which each State is entitled is ascertained by di¬ 
viding the number of its inhabitants by the apportionment 
unit. 


I 




THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 35 



CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS OF MISSOURI, 1910 TO 1921. 

In 1901 the Legislature of Missouri laid off the State into 16 Congressional 
districts, all of which are clearly shown on tliis map, except those within St. 
Louis. The tenth district consists of St. Louis county and a part of north St. 
Louis and about twice as much of south St. Louis. The eleventh and twelfth 
districts lie wholly within the city. Missouri neither gained nor lost any Repre¬ 
sentative by the census of 1910 and the Apportionment Act of 1911. The 
districts were not changed by the Legislature in 1911, although the population 
of many rural counties had decreased and of the two large cities had increased 
in the preceding ten years. Unless the Legislature redistricts the State in 
1913, the districts will remain until 1921 just as they were from 1901 to 1911, 
but in no event will the number be increased or decreased. 





















































































































36 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Prior to 1872 each State could elect its whole number of 
Representatives from the State at large, or lay off the State 
into districts and elect one from each, according to its own 
will. But since that time the Congress has directed that each 
State be divided by the Legislature into as many districts as 
it is entitled to Representatives, and that each district elect 
one Representative, and no more, except that for the first 
Congress after an apportionment is made all the additional 
Representatives to which a State is entitled because of an in¬ 
crease in its population, may be elected by the State at large. 
This exception is made because it often occurs that after the 
new apportionment is made to a State there is no meeting of 
its Legislature before the next election. 

38. Time of Choosing Representatives.—The time 

for holding elections for choosing Representatives is left to 
the legislatures of the several States, and nearly all of them 
have fixed the first Tuesday after the first Monday in No¬ 
vember of even years as the time. But Congre^ has the 
power to prescribe the time for such elections, would 

likely do so if the various States should fix on datS so scat¬ 
tered through the year as to create confusion or fliscord in 
the popular mind. This was once the case. Elecflons were 
held in some States as early as May, in others in July, in 
others in August or September, but now all the States except 
Maine, and perhaps one or two others, have fixed on the same 
day in November, and thereby uniformity of dat^s obtained, 
and thus the necessity for Congress to interfetr is avoided. 

39. Gerrymandering.—In forming Congressional dis¬ 
tricts every State is often influenced by the interest of the 
party which at the time the districts are formed is in control 
of the Legislature. To be sure, the Congress usually requires 
that a district shall be composed of ‘‘contiguous territory, con¬ 
taining as nearly as practicable an equal number of inhabit¬ 
ants." But every county is contiguous to some other, and 


THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


37 


“practicable” to too many legislators means what is most 
advantageous to their party. So there has grown up in all 
the States, it matters not what party is in control, a practice 
by which the districts are so laid out that the largest possible 
number of them are carried by the party in power. This prac¬ 
tice is called “gerrymandering,” and derives its name from 



*THE MASSACHUSETTS GERKYMANDER. 


Elbridge Gerry, who was governor of Massachusetts in 1812. 
The General Court that year so laid off that State that the 
outlines of one district had a dragon-like shape. This out¬ 
line was indicated on a map of the State which hung on the 
wall of the office of Benjamin Russell, the editor of a paper 
called the “Centinel.” John Fiske says that one day the 
celebrated painter, Gilbert Stuart, came into Mr. Russell’s 

♦Note. —This cut and explanation are taken from John Fiske’s Civil 
Government of the United States. 




38 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

% 

^ce, and observing the uncouth figure, added with his pen¬ 
cil a head, wings and claws, and exclaimed, '‘That will do for 
a salamander.” “Better say Gerrymander,” growled the 
editor, and thus originated the uncouth word which describes 
the practice of so dividing the State into districts as to give 
the party which has control of the Legislature the most of 
the Representatives elected from the State. This is done by 
forming one or more districts of counties which give large 
majorities to the opposite party, and then so laying off all the 
other districts that each will give a smaller majority to the 
party in power in the Legislature which districted the State. 
The real remedy for whatever injustice arises from gerryman¬ 
dering is to be found in an appeal to the legislators’ sense of 
fairness, and the defeat at the polls of the party that resorts 
to it to the extent of defeating the popular will. 

40. Voters for Representatives.—The Constitution 
says that “the electors in each State shall have the qualifi¬ 
cations requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of 
the State Legislature.” That simply means that every per¬ 
son qualified to vote for a Representative in the State Legis¬ 
lature is qualified to vote for Representatives in Congress. 
But a person qualified to vote in one State might not be if 
he lived in another. Some States require a citizen to be able 
to read and write before he can vote; others, that he shall 
have paid a small property or poll tax. But others permit 
any male citizen twenty-one years old, however ignorant or 
whether he has paid any poll or other tax or not, to vote, 
unless he is a lunatic or a soldier on duty or has been con¬ 
victed of a crime and not pardoned. Thus, in Massachu¬ 
setts, Connecticut and some Southern States a voter must 
know how to read and write. In Rhode Island the citizen 
who owns a small amount of land is not required to register 
ten months before the election, as are other persons. But 
every State, by establishing an educational or property qual¬ 
ification for the right to vote, thereby lays itself liable to have 


THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


39 


its number of Representatives in Congress proportionally d^-- 
creased, for the Constitution says that when the right to vote 
is denied to any male citizen twenty-one years old, except for 
participation in crime, the number of Representatives the 
State shall have in Congress and the votes it shall have for 
President ‘'shall be decreased in the proportion which the 
number of such male citizens thus excluded from voting bears 
to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of 
age in such State.” This provision is a part of the fourteenth 
amendment, and was enacted in the days soon after the Civil 
War when partisan passions were aflame, to provide a way 
for punishing a State which should ever deprive a negro of 
the right to vote. But the fact that its enforcement would 
cut down the number of Representatives of every State which 
might require a voter to have a certain amount of education 
or property, has made Congress slow to enforce it. 

41. The Senate.—Each State is entitled to two Sena¬ 
tors, and each is elected for a term of six years by the Legisla¬ 
ture of their respective States. A Senator must be an inhabi¬ 
tant of the State from which chosen-, thirty years of age, and 
for nine years must have been a citizen of the United States. 
Their terms are so arranged that one-third of them expire 
every two years, that is, with the end of each Congress. At 
the first Congress, all the Senators were divided into three 
equal classes, and by the Constitution the terms of the first 
class expired in two years, those of the second class in four 
years, and those of the third class in six years. Those who 
were elected to take the place of the first class served for a 
term of six years frqm the expiration of the two-year term of 
that class, and those chosen as successors of the second class 
served six years from the end of the four-year term of that 
class, and so also when those of the third class had served 
their six-year terms their successors were chosen for six years 
more. This arrangement has thus progressed through all the 
years since the first Congress met. When a new State was 


40 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

admitted to the Union the first Senators chosen therefrom 
were assigned to the classes which then had the least number 
of Senators belonging to them. Thus the three classes have 
been kept as nearly equal as possible, and thus two-thirds of 
the Senators, at the beginning of each Congress, are experi¬ 
enced members. This arrangement makes the Senate prac¬ 
tically a continuous body. 

42. The Presiding Officer .—The officer who presides 
over the sessions of the Senate is the Vice-President of the 
United States, and that is about all he does. He appoints no 
committees, and has no vote except when the Senators are 
equally divided, and then his vote is called the “casting vote.” 
The Senate also chooses from its own members a President of 
the Senate pro tempore to preside in case of the death or 
absence of the Vice-President, or in case the Vice-President 
should succeed to the office of President. 

43. Election and Vacancies. —Each State is entitled 
to two Senators in Congress, and no more. They are elected 
by the Legislatures of their respective States. If a vacancy 
occurs in the interim between the sessions of the Legislature, 
the Governor may appoint a Senator, to serve until the Legis¬ 
lature meets, but no longer. If the Legislature fails to elect 
and adjourns, he cannot appoint, but the vacancy continues 
until it meets again, and even longer if at such next session 
it again fails to elect. If the vacancy occurs while the Legis¬ 
lature is in session the Governor cannot appoint. He can by 
appointment fill a vacancy in the Senate only when it begins 
in the recess of the Legislature, and then only till the Legis¬ 
lature’s next meeting. If a vacancy exists the Legislature 
must try to fill it at its next session, whether that session be 
a regular or special one, and if an extra one, whether called 
for that purpose or not. 

44. How Senators are Elected. —In electing a Sena¬ 
tor each house of the Legislature first ballots separately. The 


THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


41 


next day they meet in joint session, and if any one has re¬ 
ceived a majority of all the votes cast in each house at the 
separate sessions he is declared elected without further vot¬ 
ing. If no one has received such majority, then a vote is 
taken in joint session and continued from day to day until 
someone receives a majority of all the votes cast in the joint 
assembly, “a majority of all the members elected to both 
houses being present and voting.” And the voting is viva 
voce, that is, the member’s name is called by the secretary or 
clerk, and the member answers aloud the name of the person 
he votes for. This manner of electing a Senator is prescribed 
by Congress, which has the power of altering the time and 
manner fixed by the Legislature, but not the power to change 
the place, for electing a Senator. Congress has, therefore, 
prescribed that a Senator is to be elected by the last regular 
session of the Legislature before the fourth of March on 
which the Senator’s term expires. Thus a Senator is some¬ 
times elected more than a year before his term begins, but 
usually only a month or two. 

45. Sessions of Congress.—Congress must meet at 
least once in each year, and may convene oftener by call of 
the President. A regular session begins the first Monday in 
December of each year. It is not called by the President; 
its time of meeting is fixed by law, and hence it convenes 
without any notice to members and without any call from 
any one. The first regular session may last one year if the 
two houses so choose; that is, from the beginning of one regu¬ 
lar session in December to the beginning of the next regular 
session in December. The second regular session ends by 
law on the fourth of March of each odd year; that is, on the 
fourth of March after it begins in December. Congress can¬ 
not meet in special session except upon the summons of the 
President. 

Neither house can adjourn while Congress is in session 
for more than three days without the consent of the other, 


42 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


but there is nothing to prohibit both houses from agreeing on 
a vacation of any length which would not interfere with regu¬ 
lar sessions. If the two houses cannot agree upon a time of 
adjournment the President may adjourn them to such time 
as he may think proper—a thing he has never yet done. The 
President cannot only convene Congress in “extraordinary” 
session, he can also convene either house without convening 
the other, and it has grown to be the rule for him to convene 
the Senate for a short session just after his inauguration in 
order that it may confirm his selection of Cabinet officers. 

All the sessions of Congress held between the fourth of 
March of one odd year and the fourth of March of the next 
odd year are called a “Congress”—for instance, the 55th 
Congress embraced a period of two years, as did every other 
Congress. There were held, therefore, between March 4, 
1789, and March 4, 1911, sixty-one congresses, having 122 
regular sessions, besides a number of special sessions. 

46. Beginning of Sessions.—As Representatives are 
elected in November of even years and the first regular ses¬ 
sion of the Congress to which they are elected does not begin 
until December of the next year, a new Representative will 
not, unless a special session is called, which, is never done 
except “on extraordinary occasions,” take his seat for thirteen 
months after his election. For this reason there have always 
been thoughtful persons who believe that the Government 
would be brought closer to the people and that the people 
would be more potent in influencing its affairs if the first reg¬ 
ular session of Congress after an election were begun on the 
fourth of the next March, and the second regular session on 
the fourth of the succeeding March. In addition to this 
reason, it is urged that, under the present arrangement, the 
party in power if it fails at the polls is, smarting under the 
sting of defeat, met with the temptation at the short session 
that intervenes between the election and its end on the fourth 
of March, to do some very high-handed things. If Congress 


THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


43 


at any time should desire to fix the fourth of March, or some 
other day, for the beginning of the sessions of Congress, it has 
power to do so, for the Constitution says they shall begin on 
the first Mondays in December unless Congress “shall ap¬ 
point a different day.” In opposition to the change, how¬ 
ever, it is replied that business is very intimately responsive 
to changes in administrations, and for that reason it is best 
that there be a considerable period in which the people may 
gradually adjust their affairs to the foreseen changes that a 
Congress of different political beliefs would make. 

47. Like Powers of Both Houses.—(1) Each house 
has the right to make rules for its own government. But as 
the Senate is a continuous body, in the sense that two-thirds 
of the Senators are always “old” members, its rules are rarely 
changed, and it is very difficult to change them. Each house, 
however, is a “new” house, in the sense that the terms of all 
Representatives begin and end at the same time, and hence 
it adopts its own rules at the beginning of each session, and 
changes them at will. (2) Each house has the right to 
“judge of the qualifications of its own members;” that is, it 
may refuse a person who claims to be a member the privilege 
of becoming a member, because he is not of the right age, or 
has not resided long enough in the State from which chosen, 
or was not elected or appointed in the way provided by law, 
or was fraudulently chosen. (3) Each house keeps its own 
journal, and the yea and nay votes must, on the request of 
one-fifth of the members present, be taken on any pending 
measure, and entered thereon. (4) The members of each 
house receive an annual salary of $7,500, and this amount 
may be increased or decreased by law of Congress. (5) The 
members of either house are privileged from arrest during 
their attendance upon the sessions of their respective houses, 
in all cases except for treason, felony or a breach of the peace. 
And for any speech made in either house during its sitting, 
however libelous or slanderous, they can never be sued or 


44 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE ^UNITED STATES. 

called in question in any other place, the reason being that 
either house may punish a member for disorderly conduct, 
and has been known to do so, even to the extent of expelling 
him by the concurrence of two-thirds of its members, and to 
permit him to be again held, for criminal slander for any 
speech he might make, for example, would be to twice punish 
him for the same offense, and to hold him liable for civil dam¬ 
ages therefor, it was thought, would be to interfere with the 
right to the free speech so necessary to legislative assemblies. 
But although either house might expel a member charged 
with treason or a felony, it would not undertake to otherwise 
punish him for such crime, whether committed in the Cap¬ 
itol or elsewhere, but in such case the courts would proceed 
against him as against any other person so charged. And 
members have been arrested for disturbing the peace in and 
near the Capitol. 

48. How a Law Is Passed.—A majority of the mem¬ 
bers of each house constitute a quorum to do business, and 
if a bill receive, in each house, the votes of a majority of the 
members present, if such members be a quorum, and is signed 
by the President, it becomes a law. If the President veto it, 
that is, refuse to sign it, he shall return it to the house in 
which it originated, with his objections; it must then receive 
the votes of two-thirds of the members of each house before 
it can become a law. If any bill shall not be returned by the 
President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall 
have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like 
manner as if he had signed it, unless Congress by its adjourn¬ 
ment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 

49. Impeachments.—It may, sometimes, be neces¬ 
sary to try a President, or a judge or other civil officer of the 
Government, for treason, bribery, or other high crime or mis¬ 
demeanor. Such trials are called impeachments. They be¬ 
gin in the House, which makes up a formal charge against the 


THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


45 


accused officer and presents it to the Senate, and the Senate 
tries him. If the President is on trial, the Chief Justice pre¬ 
sides, but in all other cases the Vice-President may preside. 
In any case two-thirds of the Senators present must vote 
against the accused before he can be found guilty, and if 
convicted the penalty can go no further than removal from 
office and disqualification from holding a Federal office, but 
the accused officer may be held for trial in a court, just as 
any other person, if he has committed a crime. 

Congress has not often invoked its powers under this 
clause of the Constitution. Three or four times early within 
the last century Federal judges were charged with cruelty and 
corruption in office and with usurping powers which did not 
belong to the courts, and were impeached by the House and 
brought to trial in the Senate, but in nearly every case they 
were acquitted. And once, soon after the Civil War, an at¬ 
tempt was made to impeach a. President. Andrew Johnson, 
then President, was charged with removing men from office in 
violation of a law of Congress, and was brought to trial. This 
proceeding profoundly stirred the country, and resulted in 
his acquittal by one vote, and now all men rejoice that he was 
acquitted. Thus, fortunately for our own peace and to the 
credit of our public officers, it has rarely been necessary to 
invoke this provision of the Constitution, but there can be no 
doubt that the existence of the power in Congress to impeach 
and remove from office a president, a judge, or other high 
Federal officer, has been of very great value to the people in 
deterring such officials from wrong-doing. 

50. Treaties.—The President, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, may make treaties with a foreign 
nation. These usually relate to a settlement of international 
disputes, or to the fixing of the national boundary, or to the 
acquirement of new territory, or to the terms upon which 
trade may be carried on between citizens of the two countries. 
But before such treaties can be binding they must be ap- 


46 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


proved by two-thirds of the Senators present in the Senate 
when they are acted on. When treaties are made in this 
manner they become a part of the supreme law of the land 
(art. 6, par. 2) and are binding on everyone. Neither Con¬ 
gress nor the courts can repeal or ignore them. They are in 
the nature of solemn contracts between two nations, and 
often are to exist during a term of years, and during that 
time neither nation can violate their terms without violating 
its honor. And for a persistent violation of their treaty 
agreements, the usual means of redress resorted to by nations 
in the past has been war with the one refusing to keep its 
contract. But in late years there has grown up at The Hague 
an International Arbitration Congress, whose avowed pur¬ 
pose is to settle by arbitration disputes between nations. 

It will be observed that a treaty is a supreme law, and 
it is the only kind of law that the President and either house 
can enact without the consent of the other. 

51. Why Congress Has Two Houses.—At this time 
eleven States, or less than one-fourth of the whole number, 
have 228 Representatives in Congress, and the other thirty- 
seven 207. In the first Congress, which met on March 4, 
1789, four States had 32 members and the other nine 33. 
Delaware and Rhode Island had only one each. It was early 
proposed in the Constitutional Convention that the Congress 
should be composed of one house, and that each State should 
have representatives therein in proportion to the number of 
its inhabitants. At this the small States drew back. They 
feared their interests would be swallowed up by such States 
as Virginia, which had ten times as many inhabitants as 
Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, which had eight times as 
many as Delaware. The Union under the Articles of Con¬ 
federation was a union of States, and in the Continental Con¬ 
gress there was only one house, in which each State had one 
vote and no more. The small States argued that if this plan 
was to be abandoned and each State was to have representa- 


THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 


47 


tion in proportion to its population alone, it would result in 
an extinguishment of the States, and if not, then the voice 
of a small State would be so feeble as never to be heard. In 
reply to this, the larger States urged that each State ought 
to be represented in proportion to the number of its inhabi¬ 
tants; that there was no higher or fairer rule for representa¬ 
tion than this. They said the Articles of Confederation were 
unjust in granting to the small number of inhabitants of small 
Delaware the same voice and vote given to eight times as 
many people in Pennsylvania. This difference over repre¬ 
sentation in Congress seemed so irreconcilable that the Con¬ 
stitutional Convention was on the point of breaking up. It 
was at this crisis that the Connecticut delegates came forward 
with a plan that resulted in a Congress of two houses. In 
that State, as indeed in others, the lower house of the Legis¬ 
lature was composed of one member from each town, while 
the upper house consisted of a variable number, dependent 
on the number of inhabitants, elected from the State at 
large. This arrangement suggested to them a solution for 
the difficulty. Having it in mind, they proposed that the 
Congress should consist of two houses, and that the upper 
house should represent the States, in which each State should 
have an equal voice, and that the lower house should repre¬ 
sent the people, and that the number of Representatives 
each State should have in that house should depend on the 
number of persons residing therein. This plan was accepted, 
and has ever since been known as the Connecticut Compro¬ 
mise. After it was agreed upon, all other differences were 
adjusted without difficulty. 

Questions on Chapter V. 

1. What is the law-making body? (33) 

2. How is the House composed? (34) 

3. What special authority is vested in it? (34) 

4. How many Representatives? (34) 


48 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


5. How do they vote? (34) 

6. What are the qualifications of Representatives? (35) 

7. How are vacancies filled? (35) 

8. What is said of the Speaker? (36) 

9. How is the number of Representatives ascertained? (37) 

10. How are they elected? (37) 

11. What is said of the time and manner of their election? (38) 

12. What is said of gerrymandering? (39) 

13. Who may vote for Representatives in Congress? (40) 

14. Who are citizens? (40) 

15. Are all citizens voters? (40) 

16. How may Congress punish a State which prescribes a property 

or an educational qualification for voting? (40) 

17. Why has Congress been slow to enforce this provision? (40) 

18. How is the Senate composed? (41) 

19. What are the qualifications of Senators? (41) 

20. Their terms and classes? (41) 

21. What is said of the Senate’s presiding officer? (42) 

22. How are vacancies filled? (43) 

23. How are Senators elected? (44) 

24. What power has Congress over election of Senators? (44) 

25. Describe meetings and sessions of Congress. (45). 

26. Discuss beginning of Congressional sessions. (46) 

27. What are some of the like powers of both houses? (47) 

28. Why is not a member liable for any speech made in Congress? 

(47) 

29. What is a quorum? (48) 

30. What is necessary for the enactment of a law? (48) 

31. Describe the President’s veto. (48) 

32. Discuss impeachments. (49) 

33. By whom are treaties made? (50) 

34. What force have treaties? (50) 

35. How did it come about that Congress has two houses? (51) 


CHAPTER VI. 

POWERS OF CONGRESS—TAXATION. 

52. General Powers. —The Constitution in section 8 
of article 1 enumerates some of the powers of Congress. It 
is there specifically said that Congress shall have power to 



POWERS OF CONGRESS—TAXATION. 


49 


do certain things. That being the case, no other department 
of the Government can do those things. Other parts of the 
Constitution say that Congress shall have power to do cer¬ 
tain other things. The exercise of these powers by Congress 
has given shape and direction to the Government of the 
United States. It is, therefore, of great importance to under¬ 
stand what these powers are. 

53. Taxation.—“The Congress shall have power to 
lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the 
debts and provide for the common defense and general wel¬ 
fare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises 
shall be uniform throughout the United States.” This is the 
clause of the Constitution which confers on the Union the 
power of taxation, and it was this clause that enabled it to 
get on its feet, and has made its authority permanent. 
Under the Articles of Confederation the Continental Con¬ 
gress had no power of taxation. When it needed money it 
called on the States for it, and if they refused to furnish it, 
it had no way to punish them or to get it by seizing the prop¬ 
erty of the citizen. But under the Constitution the national 
government is authorized to raise its own revenue. Congress 
levies taxes upon most things shipped into this country, and 
upon certain articles manufactured here, and upon the priv¬ 
ilege of doing certain kinds of business, and sometimes it 
levies taxes on land and even on persons, and these taxes are 
collected by officers appointed by the President. Money 
raised in this way is called revenue. 

54. Revenue.—Revenue is the Government’s expense 
money. It is used to pay its officers and debts, support its 
army and navy, erect needed buildings, reward old soldiers 
and sailors with pensions and bounties, operate its postal 
system, maintain its courts and pay any other expenses in¬ 
curred by it. All bills for raising revenue must originate in the 
House, but the Senate may change the tax rates fixed by it. 

4 


50 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


55. Indirect Taxes.—Taxes under this clause of the 
Constitution are of two kinds, direct and indirect. Direct 
taxes are taxes on land or persons. Indirect taxes are taxes 
on articles of consumption. By indirect taxes are usually 
meant what in this clause are called “duties, imposts and ex¬ 
cises.” Imposts are charges against goods shipped into this 
country, and are as often known as customs or customs du¬ 
ties, and as tariffs or tariff charges. Congress can refuse to 
permit the foreigner to bring into and sell in this country 
fabrics, hides, lumber and all other things produced abroad, 
unless there is paid to the Government’s officers a tax for the 
privilege, and that tax is an impost. A specific tariff is a tax 
on an article by the yard or pound, in disregard of its value; 
an ad valorem tariff is a tax according to the value of the 
article. If the appraised price of the article is $100 and the 
tax is forty per cent, the ad valorem tariff is $40. The money 
collected by the Government through tariff taxation amounts 
annually to much over a hundred million dollars. 

56. A Protective Tariff.—A protective tariff is a tax 
on the products of other countries of such a discriminating 
kind as will prevent or restrict their competition with pro¬ 
ducts of this country. Protective tariffs protect the American 
producer in charging more for his products than he could ob¬ 
tain for them were not this impost fixed at such a rate as to 
lessen the quantity or increase the price here of like goods 
made abroad. “Protection” is meant to preserve the Ameri¬ 
can market for the American producer, and thereby to build 
up home industries and manufactories and to enable them to 
pay better wages to their laborers. Protective tariffs are ar¬ 
ranged with the double purpose of protecting the American 
producer from competition with like articles made in foreign 
nations, and of raising revenue for the support of the Govern¬ 
ment. 

57. A Revenue Tariff.—A revenue tariff is a tax on 
imports levied solely for the purpose of raising revenue. The 


POWERS OF CONGRESS—TAXATION. 


51 


doctrine which favors such a tariff is that the Government’s 
only right to levy taxes is for the purpose of obtaining money 
wherewith to pay its expenses. A ‘‘tariff for revenue only” 
does not discriminate in favor of the American producer, and 
is not designed to afford him any protection from competi¬ 
tion by foreign-made goods with those produced by himself 
except such as must naturally result incidentally from any 
tariff; for the imposition of any tariff must to some extent 
lessen the amount of goods shipped into this country, or in¬ 
crease their price to the purchaser, and thereby enable the 
American producer to charge equally as much for his product. 

58. How Imposts are Collected.—Congress has laid 
off the United States into customs districts, and every im¬ 
portant seaboard town in each district it has declared to be a 
“port of entry,” and every ship wishing to land goods at any 
point within that district must haul in there and pay its port 
fees. Arrangements must there be made for the payment 
of the imposts fixed by Congress on the goods it carries, 
whether they are to be unloaded there, or at another place 
in the district called a “port of delivery.” At each port of 
entry is a custom house, and appraisers who determine the 
value of each article of merchandise the ship carries, and col¬ 
lectors who collect the taxes which the law imposes. But if 
it suits the owner to pay the tax at a port of delivery, the 
goods are sent on and the duties are paid there. Besides, at 
each port of entry and delivery are customs stores or ware¬ 
houses in which the owner, by giving bond, may keep his 
goods for a fixed time without paying the tariffs, but if they 
are not paid within that time they may be put up and sold 
by the collector, or he may bring suit on the importer’s bond 
for the amount of the duties. These stores are called “bonded 
warehouses” because the owner of the imports by giving bond 
may leave them therein for a certain time without the pay¬ 
ment of the duty. 

In order that vessels do not land at some other point 


52 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


than a port of entry and thus escape the payment of fees and 
duties, the Government has provided “revenue cutters,” or 
small, swift armed boats, which patrol the shore to compel 
them to land at a port of entry or go back. 

59. Excises.—Excises, or internal revenue, are inland 
taxes levied upon articles of home manufacture and sale, and 
upon licenses to pursue certain trades or to deal in certain 
commodities. Thus a tax of ninety cents a gallon on all 
whiskeys made in this country would be an excise, as would 
be also an annual charge of $5 to each retail dealer for a 
license or privilege to sell whiskey; while a tax of any sum 
levied at ports of entry upon all whiskeys made abroad and 
shipped into this country for sale, is an impost. Excise du¬ 
ties are levied on wines, beers, whiskeys and ales, and have 
been levied on tobaccos, deeds, notes and bonds, and may be 
levied on many things which have never been so taxed. The 
amount of revenue raised from excises often far exceeds a 
hundred million dollars annually. 

60. How Excises are Collected.—For the purpose of 
collecting excises each State is divided into districts of con¬ 
venient size, over which there is placed an internal revenue 
collector, with deputies and gaugers and storekeepers. The 
maker of liquor^ is required before he enters upon the manu¬ 
facture thereof to take out a license permitting him to do so, 
and if he does not do so he is subject to heavy fines and even 
imprisonment. At his distillery or brewery he must main¬ 
tain a warehouse in which his goods are stored as fast as made, 
and this is in the keeping of a Government officer called a 
storekeeper. Connected therewith are other officers called 
gaugers, who measure the quantities made, and on each gal¬ 
lon so measured the law fixes a tax, which must be paid be¬ 
fore the liquors are moved from the warehouse, except that 
they may be moved to another one called a “bonded ware¬ 
house” on the giving of a bond that the taxes will be paid 
within a certain time. 


POWERS OF CONGRESS—TAXATION. 


53 


61. Uniformity.—“All duties, imposts and excises 
must be uniform throughout the United States." The reve¬ 
nue collected for a gallon of whiskey is the same whether 
made in New England or Kentucky. The imposts on sugars 
are the same at New Orleans as at New York. These charges 
are fixed by a law of Congress, which simply declares that all 
coffees shipped into this country shall pay certain duties; 
that all hides, certain other duties, etc. The value of this 
provision cannot be overestimated. If Congress could fix one 
rate on an article if entered at one port and a different rate 
on the same article if entered at some other port, it could by 
a tariff law alone ruin or enrich any part of the country, 
according to its own wishes. If sugars were admitted free 
of duty at New Orleans at the same time that enormous 
imposts were charged at all other ports,, the result might be 
the enrichment of the sugar industries of Louisiana. If a 
very high tariff were imposed on all leathers and shoes en¬ 
tered at any Atlantic or other Northern port, but admitted 
free of duty at New Orleans, the discrimination might result 
in the ruin of the shoe factories of New England and the 
consequent enrichment of those of the Mississippi valley. 

62. Direct Taxes.—But there is no such rule of uni¬ 
formity for direct taxes. The Constitution requires direct 
taxes to be apportioned among the States according to their 
respective populations, and says that “no capitation or other 
direct tax shall be laid" unless so apportioned. Thus the 
question arises at once, what are direct taxes and what indi¬ 
rect, within the meaning of the Constitution? If a tax fixed 
by Congress is an indirect one it can be levied on the article 
named wherever found, but if the tax is a direct one, before 
it can be collected Congress must determine how much of it 
must be paid by each State; for instance, when Congress 
levied a tax of twenty million dollars on lands in 1861, it 
divided up the whole amount among the several States, and 
against the land in each was assessed such a part thereof as 


54 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


the number of its inhabitants bore to the whole number in all 
the States. Missouri’s share was fixed at $761,127.33 and 
she (as well as all the other States) was given the choice of 
raising that sum herself in her own way and paying it over 
to the United States; but lest a State should fail in doing 
that, provision was made for the appointment in each State 
of assessors to value the land, and of collectors to collect the 
tax. There was no doubt of the validity of that tax, for it 
has always been admitted that taxes on land are direct taxes. 
The value of lands in a large measure depends on the density 
of the population, and this fact no doubt had much to do in 
inducing the Constitutional Convention to provide that direct 
taxes shall be apportioned among the States according to the 
number of their inhabitants. It is also admitted that “capi¬ 
tation” or poll-taxes are direct taxes, and in fact the Consti¬ 
tution says so in so many words, for it declares (clause 4, sec. 
9, art. 1) that “no capitation or other direct tax shall be 
levied unless in proportion to the census.” But are there any 
other kinds of direct taxes except taxes on land and poll- 
taxes? No definite answer can be given. 

63. Usual Methods of Taxation.—Congress has en¬ 
acted few laws imposing a direct tax. It has in nearly all 
cases raised the Union’s revenue by imposing taxes admitted 
to be indirect. On the other hand, the States (and the towns 
and counties organized by them) have raised much of their 
revenue by imposing direct taxes. So that it may be said 
that the Government’s revenue is, for the most part, raised 
by indirect taxes, and the revenue of States and counties and 
cities and public schools are raised largely by direct taxes, 
that is, taxes imposed directly on tangible property. 

64. Purposes of Taxation.—The purposes for which 
the Government may levy taxes are specified by this clause 
of the Constitution. They are “to pay the debts and provide 
for the common defense and general welfare of the United 


POWERS OF CONGRESS—TAXATION. 


55 


States.” These are comprehensive words. The power given 
by them to Congress is very extensive, but indefinite and not 
easily applied. 

It is easy to understand what is meant by the words, "to 
pay the debts of the United States.” They mean that when¬ 
ever the Government has honestly contracted a debt it must 
pay it, and that it has power to raise money by taxation to 
pay it with. It is equally as easy to understand what is 
meant by "to provide for the common defense.” It means 
that whenever a foreign, or even a domestic enemy, threatens 
the peace of the Union, it has power to levy taxes to obtain 
money with which to provide means for warding off and 
putting down such enemy, and even to provide means in time 
of peace for meeting any trouble that may at any time arise. 

But what is meant by "to provide for the general wel¬ 
fare?” Does that mean that Congress has power to levy 
taxes for building railroads, or for buying and operating them 
after they are built, or for constructing canals, or for educat¬ 
ing the people, or for stamping out yellow fever or cholera, 
or for paying bounties to sugar producers? Or, does it mean 
that, if these things are done at all by government, they are 
to be done by the States individually, and the Congress is to 
undertake to do only those things necessary for the general 
welfare which the States cannot successfully do? Men and 
parties have differed as to the Union’s power under this 
"general welfare” clause. 

There have always been those who have contended that 
Congress has power to levy taxes for anything which it may 
think for the general welfare; that the question is not one of 
power, but one of expediency; that the power of Congress in 
such matters is unquestionable, but whether or not it should 
exercise that power depends on circumstances, and that the 
whole point resolves itself into an inquiry as to what is wise 
and best for the public good in each particular case. 

On the other hand, parties composed of men equally 


56 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

patriotic have maintained that Congress has no such power, 
and that even if it has it would be unwise to exercise it except 
in very clear cases. They say that it is giving to the words, 
“to provide for the general welfare,” an extreme and strained 
meaning to hold that they authorize Congress to tax the 
people for whatever either it or the majority of the people 
may deem for the general good; that if Congress, under this 
clause, can do whatever it wishes to do, it can do whatever 
a majority of its members may think would be for the general 
welfare, and if that is the case why have any Constitution at 
all? Why, they ask, if that is the meaning of these words, 
was not Congress given the unfettered power to do whatever 
it deems wise or expedient? Constitutions, they argue, are 
made for the protection of the minority from the arbitrary 
tyranny of a headlong and partisan majority, and if majori¬ 
ties in Congress can do what they please, the Constitution 
itself is a useless and vain thing. They contend that the sole 
purpose for the Union was that there might be a general or 
central authority to do for the States what experience had 
taught them they could not do separately, and that all other 
powers were “reserved to the States or to the people.” They, 
moreover, have contended for the general principle that, as a 
matter of practical wisdom and permanent peace, neither the 
Union nor the States should ever undertake to exercise any 
power, even if given, except when to do so is clearly for the 
public good and the orderly workings of society. 

The student must decide for himself which of these views 
is correct, and in seeking for aid from the writings and speeches 
of others he will enter a field of most useful and patriotic 
inquiry. 

Questions on Chapter VI. 

1. Where are the powers of Congress found? (52) 

2. Quote the language of the Constitution as to taxation. (53) 

3. What is said of the effect of this clause? (53) 


POWERS OVER COMMERCE. 


57 


4. Upon what does Congress levy taxes? (53) 

5. For what is revenue used? (54) 

6. What are direct and what indirect taxes? (55) 

7. What are imposts? (55) 

8. What is a specific and what an ad valorem duty? (55) 

9. What is a protective tariff? (56) 

10. What is the purpose of protection? (56) 

11. What is a revenue tariff? (57) 

12. What protection does it afford? (57) 

13. How are imposts collected? (58) 

14. What are the purposes of bonded warehouses? (58) 

15. Why are revenue cutters provided? (58) 

16. What are excises? (59) 

17. Upon what are excises laid? (59) 

18. How are excises collected? (60) 

19. What taxes must be uniform? (61) 

20. What might have resulted if this provision had been omitted? 

( 61 ) 

21. How are direct taxes apportioned and collected? (62) 

22. What taxes are admitted to be direct? (62) 

23. Can any others be certainly said to be? (62) 

24. Which method is usually employed for raising Government 
taxes? Which for State taxes? (63) 

25. For what purposes may Congress levy taxes? (64) 

26. What is meant by “to pay the debts of the United States?” (64) 

27. What is meant by “to provide for the common defense?” (64) 

28. What has one party contended Congress could do under “the 

general welfare” clause? (64) 

29. What has been the contention of the opposite party? (64) 


CHAPTER VII. 

POWERS OVER COMMERCE. 

65. To Regulate Commerce.—The Congress shall 
have power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and 
among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.” The 
power is to “regulate,” not to engage in, commerce. 



58 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

66. Foreign Commerce.—Under this power, Congress 
has prescribed rules under which ships may carry the United 
States flag, the terms upon which they may enter our ports 
and, at times, the nations which they may visit. It has con¬ 
structed lighthouses, beacons and buoys along the coast, and 
wharfs for their landing, and custom houses at which to 
register, pay the port fees, and unload their goods. It has 
prescribed rules to be observed by their officers and crews 
while on voyages, and punishments for violations thereof. 
Other rules protect passengers from infectious diseases and 
regulate the carrying of inflammable goods and explosives. It 
has spent immense sums of money in river and harbor im¬ 
provements and the construction of wharfs. For example, 
the great wharf at Galveston, prior to its destruction by the 
storm of 1900, had 28 piers, at which 84 ships, half of them 
standing in water more than 25 feet deep, could load or un¬ 
load at the same time, and this wharf was constructed by the 
Government at a cost of about six millions of dollars. Many 
other fine ports, according to the needs of commerce, have 
been constructed under this commerce clause. Under the 
power by it given. Congress can prescribe the terms upon 
which the vessels of other nations may land at any of our 
ports, and even prohibit their landing at all, and also sup¬ 
press piracy on the high seas. 

67. Interstate Commerce.—This clause gives Con¬ 
gress exclusive power to regulate commerce ^‘among the sev¬ 
eral States." Another clause of the Constitution (clause 4, 
sec. 9, art. 1) says that “no preference shall be given by any 
regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State 
over those of another, nor shall vessels bound to or from one 
State be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another." 
Commerce “among the several States" means commerce 
which concerns more States than one. It means the inter¬ 
course and traffic by the people of one State with those of 
another. It is usually spoken of as “interstate commerce." 


POWERS OVER COMMERCE. 


59 


The purpose of giving power to Congress to regulate inter¬ 
state commerce was not to give it power to destroy such trade, 
but to leave it free, “in order to form a more perfect union.” 
Congress must use this power to establish harmony and peace 
and not discord among the States; it was given to “protect 
and promote the free and unobstructed movement of men 
and things between the States in the family of the Union.” 
So it is provided that no State can impose an impost on any 
goods shipped into it from another State or foreign country 
“except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its 
inspection laws.” Goods made or produced in other States 
may be shipped into this State and here sold in like manner 
as goods produced here, without the payment of any impost 
tax, and citizens of those States may at pleasure pass into or 
out of yours, and your State cannot prevent such traffic, nor 
impede the freedom of such intercourse, except in so far as 
it may be necessary to preserve the health of your people and 
the orderly workings of society. And foreign goods properly 
admitted at any port of entry may in like manner be shipped 
into your State and sold, and the State cannot impose any 
tax on them without the consent of Congress, and then the 
net proceeds of such imposts must be turned over to the 
United States treasury, and hence, as Congress has never 
given its consent and likely never will, no State has ever 
levied an impost tax on foreign-made goods and in all proba¬ 
bility never will. 

We may, therefore, say that no State can levy an impost 
on goods shipped into it, nor in any wise deny to such goods 
that equal freedom of sale that like goods made within the 
State enjoy, unless to do so would jeopardize the public 
health, and that is what is meant by the clause quoted above, 
“except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its 
inspection laws.” The State can, in the interest of public 
health or safety, impose an inspection fee on all oils shipped 
into the State for local consumption, to guard against explo- 


60 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


sions, and on all wheat or corn or meats or fish shipped into 
the State for local uses, to guard against diseases. And it can 
also prohibit the entrance within its borders of persons or 
animals afflicted with infectious diseases. All these things it 
can do without the consent of Congress because the health 
and safety of its citizens may require such precautions. 

Nor has Congress any control over the trade and inter¬ 
course of the people wholly within a State. Goods shipped 
into a State, as soon as they have been mingled with and 
become a part of the property of the State, may be taxed for 
State and county and city purposes, just as goods produced 
there. Thus a State may require a license tax of merchants 
or the seller of spiritous liquors, and those licenses must be 
paid whether the goods were produced within the State or 
elsewhere. Nor will Congress interfere with a State law 
fixing reasonable and just freight charges for goods and fares 
for passengers transported from one place to another within 
the State by an interstate railroad, nor with laws providing 
for separate coaches for white and negro persons traveling 
from one place to another within the State, for this is not 
commerce ‘‘among the States.” 

68. Trade With Indians.—No State can prescribe any 
rule for trading with Indians. Congress alone can do that. 
It has fixed a penalty for selling guns and ammunition to 
hostile and uncivilized Indians, and prohibited any one to 
trade with them except persons of good moral character who 
have specially been licensed to do so on giving a bond for 
honest dealing. 

Questions on Chapter VII. 

1. What power has Congress over commerce? (65) 

2. How does it regulate foreign commerce? (66) 

3. What does commerce among the States mean? (67) 

4. How is it usually spoken of? (67) 

5. What is the purpose of such regulation? (67) 


POWER TO BORROW MONEY. 


61 


6. How must Congress use the power? (67) 

7. Why was it given? (67) 

8. Can a State impose an impost or tariff tax? (67) 

9. What can it impose? For what purpose? (67) 

10. Can Congress regulate trade wholly within a State? (67) 

11. Can a State tax goods from another State after they are shipped 

into it? When? How? (67) 

12. How does Congress regulate the Indian trade? (68) 


CHAPTER VIII. 

POWER TO BORROW MONEY. 

69. Necessity of Power.—The Congress is also given 
power “to borrow money on the credit of the United States.” 
Without power to borrow money no government could at 
times sustain itself. In times of war its expenses rapidly in¬ 
crease and its revenues rapidly decrease. War disturbs 
business and cripples trade. It decreases the people’s capac¬ 
ity for production, and lessens their opportunity to sell the 
things they do produce. Commerce between our country 
and foreign nations dwindles away, for other nations as our 
fortunes wane close their ports to our goods, and thereby 
profitable markets are cut off. All these things lessen the 
amount of imports and to that extent cut down the revenue 
derived from imposts. It would add grievously to the peo¬ 
ple’s burdens to try to meet this loss by a commensurate in¬ 
crease in excises and direct taxes, for the loss of their foreign 
trade lessens their prosperity at home. A lack of power in 
Congress to borrow money at such times would leave it un¬ 
able to “provide for the common defense.” In other times 
of distress, such as financial panics or extensive droughts, it 
may be wise for the Government to borrow money, for to try 
to replenish the treasury by increased taxation would be to 
lessen the people’s capacity to pay their own private debts 
and provide for their own wants. 



62 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


70. Bonds.—Congress usually exercises this power of 
borrowing money by authorizing the President to issue and 
sell the bonds of the United States, which are simply the 
Government’s written promises to pay at some future time. 
These bonds thereby become debts that must be paid or re¬ 
newed when they become due, and the money with which to 
pay them must be raised by some of the methods of taxation 
discussed in Chapter VI. The bonds if payable within a cer¬ 
tain number of years bear interest, and are made payable at 
the option of the Government, at any time after five, ten or 
twenty years after their issue, but the holder cannot demand 
payment for twenty or thirty or forty years. Thus they are 
called five-twenty, ten-thirty or twenty-forty bonds—for ex¬ 
ample, at any time after the end of ten years the Government 
can pay off a ten-thirty bond, but the holder cannot demand 
payment until the thirty years have elapsed. By pursuing 
this method the Government can either pay off the bonds at 
any time after the end of the first period, or after that use the 
intervening time before they become due to renew them at a 
lower rate of interest. Most of these bonds, now amounting 
to about nine hundred million dollars and once to over two 
billions, were issued to obtain money wherewith to carry on 
the Civil War, or in renewal of bonds then issued. But the 
first bond issue was made long before the Civil War, for on 
February 8, 1813, during our last war with Great Britain, 
Congress authorized the President to issue and sell sixteen 
millions of bonds, the money to be used in meeting any ex¬ 
penses of the Government, which then were unusually large. 
The bonds issued to carry on the Civil War were at first 
issued for short periods, and the predominant rate of interest 
was five or six per cent, but as the country recovered from 
the ruin wrought by that war, they were renewed at lower 
rates of interest, so that the late issues of two hundred mil¬ 
lions during the Cuban war were made to bear only three per 
cent, and were for a period of ten-twenty years. But all the 


POWER TO BORROW MONEY. 


63 


Government bonds were not issued for war purposes. More 
than two hundred millions were issued between 1893 and 
1896 in exchange for gold with which to redeem greenbacks 
and other Treasury notes, which according to their terms 
were redeemable in coin whenever presented to the Teasury, 
and others for the same purpose were issued long before that 
and still others have been issued since. 

71. Notes.—If the Government’s promises to pay are 
payable on demand or whenever presented to the Treasury, 
they do not bear interest, and are not denominated bonds, but 
“United States notes,” because in that form they are much 
like the ordinary promissory notes of private citizens. They 
are popularly called “greenbacks,” because the devices on 
their backs were printed with green ink. A twenty-dollar 
note simply reads: “The United States will pay to bearer 
twenty dollars.” Notes of the United States were first issued 
in the war of 1812, and again in the Mexican war, and on May 
21, 1838, Congress authorized an issue of five millions of such 
notes “to meet the current expenses of the Government.” 
Between 1812 and 1861 there were ten or twelve issues of 
notes, usually in amounts of five millions each, and in all over 
fifty millions. Nearly all of them were issued to run for only 
one year, and were made receivable in payment of taxes due 
the government and by its officers in payment of their sala¬ 
ries. But they were not made a legal tender in the payment 
of private debts, nor was it thought in those times that Con¬ 
gress had power to make them legal tender. 

The next great issue of the United States notes began at 
the outbreak of the Civil War. They were issued for the 
purpose of creating a quick emergency fund for raising and 
equipping an army. Many of those then issued, as well as 
all those issued prior thereto, bore interest, and were in all 
respects bonds except that they were made to run for only a 
short time and were in small denominations, so that they 
could be the more readily sold and to a larger number of per- 


64 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


sons. As the expenses of the war rapidly rose, Congress again 
and again resorted to this method of sustaining the Govern¬ 
ment. From the outset of the war it made its notes receiv¬ 
able in payment of all debts due the Government, and soon 
they were used to pay soldiers and sailors for their services 
and to purchase their supplies, and as the Government found 
itself in 1863 in the throes of a death-struggle, it took the far- 
reaching step of making these notes a legal tender in the pay¬ 
ment of all debts, public and private, except duties on im¬ 
ports and interest on Government bonds, and thus put them 
into circulation to do the work of money, and hence they are 
also known as “legal tender notes.” The amount of these 
notes soon after the war was greatly decreased under an act 
which authorized the Treasury to issue to the holder in ex¬ 
change for them an equal amount of long-time interest-bear¬ 
ing bonds. Thus all the interest-bearing notes werq retired 
or destroyed, but in 1868 Congress prohibited the President 
from retiring and cancelling the remaining ones, and by a 
later law made them redeemable in coin whenever presented 
to the Treasury, and in 1900 made them redeemable-in gold 
only. The law which prohibits their retirement and cancel¬ 
lation has been re-enacted again and again, and is still in 
force. Whenever these notes are presented to the Treasury 
they are taken up and paid off in gold and are “reissued and 
paid out and kept in circulation,” and hence the amount 
thereof since 1878 has remained fixed ($346,681,016) and will 
continue to be until Congress authorizes the Treasury to pay 
off and destroy them. 

72. Sherman Notes.—The Government has issued 
other kinds of Treasury notes, notably those issued under 
the act of July 14, 1890, which authorized the Treasury to 
buy not in excess of four and one-half million ounces of silver 
bullion each month, and to issue notes in payment therefor, 
and then to coin the bullion into silver dollars, and as fast as 
that was done to take up and destroy the notes. They, too. 


POWERS OVER COINAGE, WEIGHTS, MEASURES. 65 


were made legal tender. These notes are often called Sher¬ 
man notes, because Senator Sherman of Ohio was the author 
of the bill which authorized their issue. Many millions of 
them were issued from first to last, but by a late law they are 
to be redeemed with gold or replaced by equal amounts of 
silver certificates, and hence will likely soon disappear from 
circulation. 

Questions on Chapter VIII. 

1. What about Congress’s power to borrow money? (69) 

2. Why should a government have this power? (69) 

3. How does Congress usually exercise this power? (70) 

4. What are bonds? (70) 

5. Are they debts? How are they paid? (70) 

6. Describe the usual interest-bearing bonds. (70) 

7. For what purpose were they issued? (70) 

8. Were all bonds issued for this purpose? (70) 

9. Suppose the Government’s obligations are payable on demand? 

(71) 

10. What Is said of greenbacks? (71) 

11. In what were they finally made redeemable? 4 ^ (71) 

12. Suppose they were redeemed? (71) 

13. What was the effect? (71) 

14. What is said of Sherman notes? (72) 


CHAPTER IX. 

POWERS OVER COINAGE, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

73. Exclusive Power in Congress.— The Congress 
shall have power ‘ho coin money, regulate the value thereof, 
and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and 
measures.” In connection with this clause should be read 
and considered another (clause 1, sec. 10, art. 1), which says 
that “no State shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or make 
anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 

5 



66 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


debts.” These two clauses contain everything found in the 
Constitution on the subject of money. 

The power of Congress to coin money is an exclusive one; 
that is, it is one which Congress alone can exercise. No State 
could exercise it, whether Congress refused to do so or not, 
for the Constitution clearly says that “no State shall coin 
money.” Not so, however, with weights and measures. Con¬ 
gress has power to “fix the standard of weights and meas¬ 
ures,” and this is a power which it may or may not exercise, 
as it chooses, and until it passes laws on the subject the 
States may do so for themselves, but when it does that no 
State can longer do so. 

No better illustration of the difference between a mere 
grant of a power and the exclusive right to exercise a power 
granted to the Federal government can be found in the Con¬ 
stitution than is contained in these two clauses. It was more 
than three years after the Government under the new Con¬ 
stitution was inaugurated before Congress passed a coinage 
law, but during that time no State could coin money or regu¬ 
late foreign coins. On the other hand, although Congress has 
always had the power, it has never undertaken to enact a law 
fixing “the standard of weights and measures” except for the 
transaction of its own business, and hence each State has 
passed laws on the subject for itself, and these laws are bind¬ 
ing, and will continue to be until Congress nullifies them with 
laws of its own. Many powers have been granted to Con¬ 
gress which it has never seemed expedient or wise to exercise, 
and hence the States have gone ahead passing laws on the 
subjects, and these have always been upheld and will be until 
Congress exercises its power to pass a general law on the 
particular subject, and then so much of the State laws as 
are in conflict therewith must yield to the superior authority 
of Congress. 

For instance, the lands obtained by the Louisiana Pur¬ 
chase and by the cession to the United States of the North- 


POWERS OVER COINAGE, WEIGHTS, MEASURES. 67 


west Territory, became public lands, which the Government 
had surveyed for the purpose of disposing of them to settlers; 
it, therefore, had them surveyed by its own surveyors, and in 
order that there might be uniformity in such surveys it di¬ 
rected that the acre should be the unit of measure for its 
lands, and that such lands should be surveyed into sections, 
townships and ranges, each containing a certain number of 
acres, and thus it made the table for “square measure” the 
“standard of measure” for land. It has also prescribed that 
the Troy pound shall be the standard of weights at the mints, 
in measuring gold and silver. These things it has done be¬ 
cause the selling of the public lands and the coinage of money 
are its business. But it has not undertaken to say how many 
pounds shall make a bushel of wheat or corn or oats, nor 
whether these things shall be measured by bushels or pounds 
or hogsheads, but has left those matters to the States to be 
regulated as each may think will best serve the interests and 
business of its own people. 

74. Necessity For. —The power to coin money is 
placed in Congress in order to facilitate commerce among the 
States and with foreign countries. In order that trade may 
be easily carried on, a dollar should have the same value 
throughout the whole country. Money is the medium of ex¬ 
change, and coin is the standard of value. It is the meas¬ 
ure by which the value of other things is determined. It is 
necessary for any trade that that measure of value be the same 
size in all the States. In the colonial days the shilling in 
several colonies was 16| cents, and it took six of them to make 
a dollar; in others, it was 12| cents, or 8 to a dollar; in others 
it was 13J cents, and in still others, 2P|7 cents. This differ¬ 
ence in the size of these small coins impeded trade among the 
colonies, and created confusion in the public mind. So long 
as each State could determine for itself the size of its own 
coins there would be no uniformity in the moneys of the 
country. On the other hand, if thd||^coins were the same 


68 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


throughout the land, they would not only facilitate trade 
among the States, but aid in consolidating the States into “a 
more perfect union.” Thus we have two reasons for the 
exercise by the Federal government of this power to coin 
money: (1) to establish uniformity in the moneys of the 
country and thus facilitate trade among the States and with 
foreign countries, and (2) to strengthen the bond of fraternal 
Union. The exercise of this power has quietly done much to 
make the United States a consolidated nation. 

75. Coining Money. —Congress has taken exclusive 
control over the coinage of money. It has from the first de¬ 
clared that the coins shall be gold and silver. It has de¬ 
clared how many grains of gold each gold coin shall contain 
and how much alloy, and how many grains of silver the silver 
dollar shall contain and how much alloy. It has prescribed 
certain words and devices to be placed on the coins, and it 
has established mints where alone the coins may be struck off, 
and declared that no private person or company or State 
shall make any coins like them. Any person from any part 
of the world can take gold bullion to one of these mints and 
have it turned into gold coins free of cost to himself, and the 
coins when handed back to him are lawful money of the 
United States, and a legal tender in the payment of all debts. 
This is called “free and unlimited coinage of gold.” For¬ 
merly the owner of silver bullion could in the same way take 
it to the mint and have it turned into silver dollars free of 
cost to himself, but this is no longer true. Now whatever 
silver bullion is turned into silver coins, is first bought by the 
Treasury, and then coined in such amounts as the Congress 
may direct. But the Congress does not authorize the Treas¬ 
ury to buy any gold bullion for the purpose of having it 
coined. It simply provides the mints to which the owner of 
the gold can take it and have it coined. 

76. Coins and Ratio. —The unit of value is the dollar. 
Since 1873 the gold dollar has been the “standard unit of 


POWERS OVER COINAGE, WEIGHTS, MEASURES. 69 

value,” and on March 14, 1900, Congress declared that “all 
forms of money issued or coined by the United States shall 
be maintained at a parity of value with this standard.” At 
the present time the silver dollar contains STIJ grains of pure 
silver. It has had this number of grains ever since the pas¬ 
sage of the first coinage act on April 2, 1792. The gold dollar 
was first authorized to be coined in 1849, and its coinage was 
stopped in 1890. It had 23.2 grains of pure gold. The gold 
eagle, or ten-dollar gold piece, has 232 grains of pure gold. 
The other gold coins are a double eagle or twenty dollars, a 
half eagle or five dollars. The other silver coins are half 
dollars, quarters and dimes. Standard metal is the product 
after the pure metal has been mixed with copper or other 
alloy, which must be added in order to make the coin hard 
and unbending. It is from the standard metal that the coins 
are made. Each coin is now about nine-tenths pure or 
“fine,” and one-tenth alloy. The standard silver dollar, 
therefore, contains 412J grains of standard silver, and the 
gold eagle 258 grains of standard gold. 

It will be observed that the silver dollar contains almost 
exactly sixteen times as many grains as the gold dollar. This 
is what is meant by the ratio of coins being 16 to 1. It means 
that a silver dollar shall contain sixteen times as many grains 
of silver as there are grains of gold in a gold dollar. The 
ratio was by the first coinage law 15 to 1, the law providing 
that “every fifteen pounds weight of pure silver shall be of 
equal value, in all payments, with one pound weight of pure 
gold.” This ratio was changed in 1834 to 16 to 1, by de¬ 
creasing the size of the gold coin, the gold eagle being reduced 
from 247j to 232 grains of pure gold, and such has remained 
its size ever since. 

77. Amount of Money. —Gold and silver constitute 
about two-thirds of the entire volume of the moneys of the 
United States, the gold amounting to over one billion six 
hundred million dollars, and the silver coins to about seven 


70 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


hundred million, and all other moneys to a little more than 
one billion dollars. 

78. Gold Certificates.—Gold and silver coins have 
always been moneys of the United States. But the coins 
themselves are heavy and often invonvenient to carry. To 
overcome this inconvenience and keep them in constant use, 
Congress has provided for gold certificates and silver cer¬ 
tificates. Under the law any person who has as much as $100 
in gold coins can take them to the Treasury of the United 
States, deposit them there and take out an equal amount of 
gold certificates, no more, no less. These certificates look 
much like greenbacks except the devices are printed in orange 
instead of green ink. They are simply receipts stating that 
there has been so much gold deposited in the Treasury for 
their redemption. For instance, a $20 gold certificate reads: 
“This is to certify that there has been deposited in the Treas¬ 
ury of the United States twenty dollars in gold coin payable 
to the bearer on demand.” The gold when so deposited is not 
used to pay any current expenses of the Government, but is 
held as a sacred fund for the redemption of the certificates 
whenever presented, and, hence, any holder of the certifi¬ 
cates may present them at the Treasury at any time and get 
an equal amount of gold coin, and thereupon the certificates 
are destroyed. The certificates, therefore, in the hands of 
the people pass current as so much gold. They are more 
portable and convenient than the coins, and that is the rea¬ 
son for their existence. 

79. Silver Certificates.—For the same reason the 
owner of silver dollars can take them to the Treasury, de¬ 
posit them there, and take out an equal amount of silver 
certificates; in fact, there is better reason for this provision 
for silver certificates than for the one for gold certificates, 
since silver coins in proportion to their value are heavier than 
gold coins, a silver dollar being as heavy as sixteen dollars in 


POWERS OVER COINAGE, WEIGHTS, MEASURES. 71 


gold. As a result, proportionately far more silver certifi¬ 
cates are in circulation than gold ones. The amount of 
silver certificates is about five-sixths of the entire amount of 
silver dollars iii existence, while the amount of gold certifi¬ 
cates is not one-half the amount of gold coin. A five-dollar 
silver certificate reads this way: “This certifies that there 
have been deposited in the Treasury of the United States of 
America five silver dollars payable to the bearer on demand.” 

80. Denominations.—Silver certificates are in denom¬ 
inations of one, two, five and ten dollars, and one-tenth of the 
whole amount in denominations of twenty, fifty and one 
hundred dollars. Gold certificates are in denominations of 
not less than ten dollars, and at least one-fourth of the entire 
amount in not less than fifty dollars, and even a ten-thousand 
dollar gold certificate payable to order may be issued. Hence, 
the denominations of the two kinds of certificates somewhat 
correspond to the relative weights of the two kinds of coins. 

81. Subsidiary Coin.—It never has been true in this 
country that the holder of either silver or gold bullion could 
have them turned into coins of less size than one dollar. No 
gold coin of less size than one dollar has ever been coined, 
and all silver coins of less size than one dollar have been 
coined by the Government itself, that is, it buys the silver 
bullion and has it turned into half dollars, quarters and 
dimes. These are called “subsidiary silver coins” or “frac¬ 
tional currency.” They are necessary for small business 
transactions and to make exact change. To aid them the 
Government has also provided a five-cent piece .called a 
“nickel,” and one-cent pieces made of copper. The entire 
amount of subsidiary coins now considerably exceeds one 
hundred million dollars. 

82. Emergency Moneys.—The amount of gold and 
silver actually coined has never been sufficient to do the work 
required of a medium of exchange, and consequently at vari- 


72 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ous times Congress has provided for temporary or emergency 
moneys to supplement these coins. These are (1) greenbacks, 
(2) other Treasury notes and (3) bank notes. The green¬ 
backs and other Treasury notes have already been discussed 
in sections 71 and 72. 

83. Bank Notes.—The third kind of emergency money 
is bank notes. The Government permits a national bank to 
invest any part of its capital stock, even the whole of it, in 2 
per cent Government bonds, and, by depositing these bonds 
in the Treasury as security that they will be paid, to “issue 
and circulate as money” an equal amount of its notes, which 
are by law made receivable by the Government in payment 
of all debts due it except duties on imports, and in payment 
of all debts owing by it to individuals except interest on the 
public debts, which is payable in gold. Thus they are made 
to pass current as money, although they are not legal tender 
in the payment of private debts. A bank note reads about 
as follows: “The Third National Bank of Saint Louis, Mis¬ 
souri, will pay to the bearer fifty dollars on demand. This 
note is secured by bonds of the United States deposited with 
the United States Treasury at Washington.” 

A bank whose notes are permitted by law to pass as cur¬ 
rency is called a bank of issue. Formerly State banks were 
banks of issue, but that is no longer the case. Congress many 
years ago forced such banks to cease to issue their notes by 
levying an annual tax of ten per cent on their notes—a tax 
so high as to make the notes unprofitable. This law is still 
in force, hence, the only banks of issue now are national 
banks, on whose notes the Government levies an annual tax 
of one-half of one per cent for the purpose of having on hand 
at all times a fund which may be immediately used to redeem 
the notes of any national bank that may fail. If a bank fails, 
the Treasury sells the bonds held by it belonging to the bank, 
for gold, and replaces whatever part of the fund it may have 


POWERS OVER COINAGE, WEIGHTS, MEASURES. 73 


used to redeem the notes of the defunct bank, and turns over 
the balance to the bank’s officers to be used in paying its 
other debts. 

84. Bills of Credit.—The Constitution further pro¬ 
vides that no State shall ‘‘emit bills of credit” or ‘‘make any¬ 
thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.” 
“Bills of credit,” as here used, mean paper money, and “to 
emit bills of credit” is to issue the notes of the State redeem¬ 
able at some future time, and cause them to circulate as money. 
In the days prior to the adoption of the Constitution every 
State had issued its notes, and provided that they should be 
received by all State officers in payment of their salaries and 
by tax collectors in payment of debts due the State. These 
notes originated in the inability of the State to pay its current 
expenses as they rapidly increased during the Revolutionary 
war. The State, therefore, attempted to run on credit, or to 
support itself by borrowing money. The notes were simply 
promises to pay so much money, and they were made redeem¬ 
able in money within a certain number of years. As the State 
received them in payment of taxes and compelled its officers 
to receive them in payment of their salaries, other people also 
took them from the officers at their face value so long as they 
believed the State would be able to pay or redeem them in 
actual money, that is, gold or silver. But as the burdens of 
the war became heavier and the amount of these notes in¬ 
creased, and the State showed no ability to redeem them, 
they became worth less than par, and in some cases not more 
than 15 per cent of their face value. Then the State, appar¬ 
ently in an effort at self-preservation, took another very im¬ 
portant step, just as our Congress afterwards did in regard 
to the greenbacks: it made its notes legal tender in the pay¬ 
ment of all private debts, and thus attempted to force them 
into circulation as money, with an increased value. 

The Constitution took away from the States the power 
not only to issue paper money, but also to make anything ex- 


74 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


cept gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. A 
State cannot compel a private citizen to accept greenbacks 
in payment of debts owing him, but it has been held by the 
Supreme Court that Congress may do so. If Congress had 
no law on the subject, the State could not compel the holder 
of your note to accept in payment anything except gold or 
silver coin, unless the note itself contracted that it might be 
paid in something else; but if the contract provided that it 
should be paid in something else (for instance, 100 bushels of 
wheat) the State could compel the holder to accept that other 
thing, or gold and silver coin, in payment. But Congress has 
provided that private debts may be paid in any lawful money, 
and it has made greenbacks and gold and (when not other¬ 
wise provided in the contract) silver dollars, lawful money 
and at times declared other things also to be lawful money. 

But the provision prohibiting a State from emitting bills 
of credit does not mean that the State cannot issue its notes 
to be sold for money. It can borrow money whenever it 
wishes, and it can settle its debts with those it owes by issu¬ 
ing its notes to them in payment, if they are willing to accept 
them, but it cannot compel them to receive them, nor can 
it make the notes circulate as money. 

85. Counterfeiting.—As a necessary incident of the 
power of Congress to coin money, it is also given the power 
“to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securi¬ 
ties and current coins of the United States.” Counterfeiting 
is the making or uttering of spurious or imitation money, 
bank notes or notes or bonds of the United States. Some¬ 
times dishonest and thieving persons try to make silver or 
gold coins out of some cheap or spurious metal so nearly like 
the genuine coins that ordinary persons will not readily de¬ 
tect their false character. This is counterfeiting, as is also 
an attempt to pass such counterfeits, and as is the making or 
selling or passing by private persons of greenbacks or other 


POWERS OVER COINAGE, WEIGHTS, MEASURES. 75 


notes or bonds purporting to be issued by the Government 
or banks. 


Volume of Money. —’The amount of money in the United States on De¬ 
cember 1, 1911, as shown by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, was 
as follows: 

Gold coin (including bullion in the Treas¬ 
ury). $1,797,721,560 

Standard silver dollars. 565,168,367 

Subsidiary silver. 164,080,387 


Total metallic moneys. $2,526,969,314 

Treasimy (Sherman) notes of 1890. $3,111,000 

United States notes (greenbacks). 346,681,016 

National Bank notes. 729,764,346 


Total of paper moneys. 1,079,556,362 


Total moneys of all kinds 

Gold certificates. 

Silver certificates. 

Total moneys in Treasury. 

Total moneys in circulation. 


y 


$3,616,526,676 


$1,001,579,669 

490,453,000 

345,943,923 

3,270,582,753 


Questions on Chapter IX. 

1. Repeat the two clauses of the Constitution on the subject of 

money. (73) 

2. Is the power of Congress to coin money exclusive? (73) 

3. Could a State at any time coin money? (73) 

4. Can a State fix the standard of weights and measures? (73) 

5. Suppose Congress should do so, could a State then enact such a 

law? (73) 

6. In what instances has Congress undertaken to fix a standard of 
weights and measures? (73) 

7. Why is the power to coin money placed in Congress? (74) 

8. What is money? What is coin? (74) 

9. What was the effect of a variable shilling in the colonial days? 

(74) 

10. What two reasons, then, for the exercise by the Federal Govern¬ 
ment of this power? (74) 

11. What metals are used for coins? (75) 

12. How does Congress regulate their coinage? (75) 

13. What can the owner of gold bullion do with it? (75) 




















76 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


14. Can the owner of silver bullion do that? (75) 

15. What is the unit of value? The standard of value? (76) 

16. What has Congress declared? (76) 

17. How many grains of pure silver and standard silver in a silver 

dollar? (76) 

18. How many grains of pure gold and how many of standard gold 
in the gold eagle? (76) 

19. What are the gold coins? The silver coins? (76) 

20. What was at first the ratio? (76) 

21. When and how was it changed? (76) 

22. What are the amounts of silver, gold and all other moneys in the 

United States? (77) 

23. What is meant by gold certificates? (78) 

24. Why are they issued? (78) 

25. What is said of silver certificates? (79) 

26. What are the denominations of these certificates? (80) 

27. What is said of subsidiary coins? (81) 

28. Why has Congress issued emergency moneys? (82) 

29. What are they? (82) 

30. What amount of notes may a national bank issue? (83) 

31. How are they secured? (83) 

32. For what are they receivable? (83) 

33. Are they legal tender? (83) 

34. What is a bank of issue? (83) 

35. Why are national banks now the only banks of issue? (83) 

36. If a national bank fails how are its notes made good to the hold¬ 
ers? (83) 

37. What are bills of credit and what is meant by issuing bills of- 
credit? (84) 

38. Can a State do that? (84) 

39. Give the history of bills of credit prior to the adoption of the 
Constitution. (84) 

40. Can a State compel one to accept anything except gold and 
silver in payment of debts? (84) 

41. Can Congress? (84) 

42. In what may private debts be paid? (84) 

43. Can a State issue notes not to circulate as money? (84) 

44. What is counterfeiting? (85) 


CHAPTER X. 

NATURALIZATION AND BANKRUPTCIES. 

86. Congress is also given power “to establish an 
uniform rule of naturalization and uniform laws on the sub¬ 
ject of bankruptcies throughout the United States.” 

87. Naturalization is the act by which the rights and 
privileges of citizenship are conferred on persons born in 
other countries. When such a person is naturalized he be¬ 
comes a citizen of the United States and of the State in which 
he resides. The laws under which he is naturalized were 
enacted by Congress, and are the same for all the States. 

Under them a foreigner, if “a free white person or an 
alien of African nativity or a person of African descent,” 
may make application, signed in his own handwriting, to the 
clerk of any circuit court of any State or of any circuit or 
district court of the United States, declaring it is his inten¬ 
tion in good faith to become a citizen of the United States; 
and two years thereafter he may be admitted to citizenship 
by any of those courts if at that time he is (1) able to speak 
the English language, is (2) not a polygamist or (3) an an¬ 
archist or opposed to organized government, and (4) has con¬ 
tinuously been a resident of the United States for five years 
and for at least one year of the State in which the court is 
held. His residence during that time must be proved by 
the oath of other persons who are citizens, and he must him¬ 
self under oath renounce forever all allegiance to every other 
sovereign, and especially to the country from which he came, 
and pledge himself true allegiance to bear to the United 
States. If he meets these conditions, and a few others of 

(77) 


78 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


less importance, he is admitted to citizenship, and thereafter 
has all the privileges and protection that the law extends to 
other citizens, and his wife and children who are at the time 
under the age of twenty-one years, if at the time of his nat¬ 
uralization they are dwelling in the United States, also by 
his naturalization become citizens. 

88. Intention and Perfection.—The application to 
become a citizen is popularly described as “taking out the 
first papers.” In the law it is denominated the applicant’s 
“declaration of intention.” It does not admit him to citi¬ 
zenship. He must wait for at least two years before he can 
be naturalized, and may wait for seven years, and in no event 
can he be naturalized until he has resided five years in this 
country. If after he has filed his declaration of intention 
he dies before he has been admitted to citizenship, his widow 
and minor children may be naturalized without filing any 
further declaration. He may make his application at any 
time after he is eighteen years of age. He may make his 
application in one State, and be finally naturalized in another. 
And at the time of his naturalization the court, upon his 
request, may change his name. No person can be natural¬ 
ized until after his petition for naturalization has remained 
on file with the court for ninety days, nor can he be natural¬ 
ized within thirty days preceding any general election. 

89. Who May Become Citizens.—The law of Con¬ 
gress is that “aliens being free white persons and aliens of 
African nativity and persons of African descent” may be nat¬ 
uralized. The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution 
says that “all persons born or naturalized in the United 
Stated and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of 
the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” These 
two provisions fix the limits of citizenship. No Chinaman, 
no Japanese, nor other Mongolian, unless born in Africa, can 
be naturalized, because he is neither a free white person nor 



NATURALIZATION AND BANKRUPTCIES. 


79 


of African nativity. Free white persons, whether born in 
Europe, Asia, Africa, South America or elsewhere, may be 
naturalized. Persons of African nativity or of African de¬ 
scent may be also, whether they came to us directly from 
Africa or from the isles of the sea or Canada or elsewhere. 
But the yellow or copper-colored peoples are not permitted 
to become naturalized; only free white persons, and persons 
who were born or whose ancestors were born in Africa. This 
provision in practice confines naturalization to aliens belong¬ 
ing to the white and black races, and shuts out those belong¬ 
ing to the yellow or copper-colored races of Asia and Australia 
and elsewhere except Africa. But all persons born in the 
United States except uncivilized Indians are citizens without 
naturalization. Indians of Oklahoma are citizens, but other 
Indians, though born here, are not citizens, because not 
"subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.” But 
Chinese and Japanese and Mexican children born in the 
United States are citizens. And all other persons born in 
this country, whether their parents were naturalized or not, 
are citizens, if such parents were permanent residents here. 
And persons actually born outside the limits of the United 
States are considered to have been "born in the United States” 
if their parents were American citizens at the time of their 
birth and temporarily residing abroad. 

90. Citizens and Voters.—It is necessary to distin¬ 
guish between citizens and voters. Congress declares who 
are citizens, but the States say what citizens may vote. The 
wives of naturalized or native persons are citizens, but in 
most States they are not voters. Minor children born in the 
United States and those of naturalized persons are citizens, 
but they are not voters. And in some States men over 
twenty-one years of age, whether naturalized or natives, are 
not permitted to vote, because they cannot read, or have not 
paid taxes, or have been convicted of crime. And in some 
States, "every male person of foreign birth who may have 


80 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


declared his intention to become a citizen, not less than one 
year nor more than five years before he offers to vote, if 
twenty-one years of age,” may vote, without waiting to be 
admitted to citizenship. This strange provision permits per¬ 
sons to vote who are not citizens, and who may not become 
such for four years, for all it requires is that the foreign-born 
man shall have resided in the State one year and one year 
before the election shall have taken out his first papers. 

But let no one despise his citizenship because he can not 
vote. By being a citizen he can invoke the powers of this 
Government for his protection anywhere in the world. He 
has the right to own land in this country, and in all other 
things, except that of voting, has the same property rights 
and the same civil rights as the citizen who votes. 

91. Bankruptcies.—A bankrupt is an insolvent debt¬ 
or, or one about to fail in business because of an inability to 
pay his debts. The purpose of a bankrupt law is to enable 
him to be discharged from his debts by turning over to the 
court all his property to be divided ratably among those he 
owes. The principle behind such a law is that if a debtor 
owes a number of debts, all equally just, and cannot pay all, 
it is not right that all his property be seized to pay the debt 
of one or two, but that all should have a ratable share in his 
property. Such a law, therefore, permits him to go into 
court and make an exhibit of the property he owns that can 
be used for paying his debts, and ask the court to turn it 
into money and divide up the proceeds among all his creditors, 
giving to each his proportionate share, and, that having been 
done, that he be discharged from any further payment of such 
debts, and be permitted to start anew, with all his prior debts 
cancelled. 

92. Kinds.—There are two classes of bankrupts, vol¬ 
untary and involuntary. The voluntary bankrupt is any 
debtor who of his own motion goes into court and prays to 


NATURALIZATION AND BANKRUPTCIES. 


81 


be discharged from the payment of his debts. If he shows 
himself hopelessly in debt, the court will grant his prayer, 
however small his debts or whatever may be his business. 
The involuntary bankrupt is the debtor whose creditors 
force him into bankruptcy. "Any natural person, except a 
wage-earner or a person engaged chiefly in farming or the 
tillage of the soil, or any partnership, or any corporation, en¬ 
gaged principally in manufacturing, trading, printing, pub¬ 
lishing or mercantile pursuits, owing debts to the amount of 
one thousand dollars or over, may be adjudged an involun¬ 
tary bankrupt,” upon a showing that he has concealed or 
disposed of his goods in a way to delay or hinder or defraud 
his creditors. 

93. How Far Applicable.—Whether the procedure be 
voluntary or involuntary, the law does not allow the bank¬ 
rupt’s homestead to be sold to pay his debts, nor his other 
property which by State laws is exempt from the sheriff’s 
levy. But there are certain debts which the law does not 
relieve the bankrupt from paying. He cannot be discharged 
from paying a debt which originated in fraud, nor one due by 
him as administrator to the heirs of a deceased person, nor 
one due by him for taxes, nor one due by him for money 
placed in his hands to be held by him as trustee for the use 
and benefit of others, but which he has lost or squandered. 
All these debts he must pay, whether he takes the benefit of 
the bankrupt law or not. 

94. History of Bankrupt Laws and Necessity For. 

—The power given to Congress "to establish uniform laws on 
the subject of bankruptcy throughout the United States” is 
one which Congress has rarely exercised. The first law on 
the subject was passed in 1800 and repealed three years later; 
the next in 1841, and repealed within eighteen months; the 
next, passed in 1867, had a little longer life than its prede¬ 
cessors, for it was not repealed for eleven years; the next 
6 


82 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


came in 1898, and is still in force. The first three were un¬ 
popular, and for three reasons: first, there was a general be¬ 
lief, grounded upon experience, that they were a mere sponge 
to wipe out indebtedness, not only of honest debtors, but of 
dishonest ones as well; and that instead of proving of real 
value to creditors, they encouraged the contracting of debts 
and lessened the dread of debt; second, the waste and expense 
of proceedings in bankruptcies, the fees of the commissioners 
and other officers absorbing much of the fund; third, the 
confusion and litigation resulting from a conflict of such 
laws with State laws on the same subject. But the law of 
1898 has so far worked with more satisfaction. Under it the 
proceeding is speedier than under the former ones, nor is it 
so expensive and wasteful. Besides, the necessity for such a 
law is now more apparent than formerly. Railroads have 
brought business communities close to each other; trading 
between citizens of different States is constantly increasing. 
“Uniform laws on the subject” are, therefore, made more and 
more necessary for easy-working business. But it should 
also be remembered that Congress has performed its full duty 
in the matter when its laws result in such uniformity. It 
should exercise this power only when it is clearly necessary 
for peaceful and prosperous commerce among the States. 
Unless the laws of the various States are in hopeless and hurt¬ 
ful confusion, there is no necessity for Congress “to establish 
uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies.” 

Questions on Chapter X. 

1. What does the Constitution say of naturalization and bank¬ 

ruptcies? (86) 

2. What is naturalization? (87) 

3. By whom were naturalization laws enacted? (87) 

4. Who may be naturalized? (87) 

5. How? (87) 

6. What must he renounce and pledge? (87) 

7. What does he gain by being naturalized? (87) 


THE POST OFFICE. 


83 


8. Does his naturalization naturalize his wife and children? (87) 

9. How is the application usually described? (88) 

10. Does it admit the applicant to citizenship? (88) 

11. Does it admit him to the right to vote? (90) 

12. What further is said about naturalization? (88) 

13. Who are citizens? (89) 

14. What persons may and what may not be naturalized? (89) 

15. What persons born in the United States are citizens? (89) 

16. Distinguish between citizens and voters. (90) 

17. What may a citizen do although not a voter? (90) 

18. What is a bankrupt? (91) 

19. What is the purpose of a bankrupt law? (91) 

20. What is the principle behind such a law? (91) 

21. What does such a law permit the bankrupt to do? (91) 

22. How many kinds of bankrupts? (92) 

23. Who may be a voluntary bankrupt? (92) 

24. Who an involuntary bankrupt? (92) 

25. Who may be adjudged an involuntary bankrupt? (92) 

26. What property cannot be taken to pay the bankrupt’s debts? 

(93) 

27. What debts is he not relieved from paying? (93) 

28. Recite the history of bankrupt laws. (94) 

29. Why were the first three unpopular? (94) 

30. Why is the law of 1898 more satisfactory? (94) 

31. Why is there greater necessity for a bankrupt law than formerly? 

(94) 

32. When has Congress performed its full duty on the subject? (94) 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE POST OFFICE. 

95. Postal Department.—The Constitution gives Con¬ 
gress power “to establish post offices and post-roads.” The 
exercise of this power has been one of the strong forces in 
unifying and assimilating the American people. A uniform 
system of speedily carrying letters, papers, magazines, books, 
and other small articles to every part of our country and to 
foreign lands, at small cost, has been patiently worked out. 



84 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


and as a result of this means for the general diffusion of in¬ 
telligence, not only has commerce and every kind of industry 
been quickened and facilitated, but the printing of news¬ 
papers, magazines and books has become profitable and a 
reading habit encouraged, so that the people have become 
more and more to know and understand each other, to have 
their sectional prejudices dissipated, to take a more intelli¬ 
gent and brotherly interest in each other’s welfare, and to 
become more and more alike in their social customs and in 
their religious and political views. So we may say that the 
postal system has been a powerful agency in solidifying the 
American people into a homogeneous and enlightened na¬ 
tion. 

96. Postal Routes.—Under this clause of the Consti¬ 
tution the Congress could build post-roads of its own, and 
hold them for its exclusive use; but it has rarely undertaken 
to do that, and for two reasons: First, there have always 
been able and patriotic men who have held, and it seems now 
to be generally admitted, that it was not intended by this 
clause to give Congress power to build post-roads at will, 
but only such as an efficient postal system clearly requires. 
Second, the public roads established under State law, and 
the railroads and boat and ship lines afford sufficient ways, 
at much less expense, of supplying every community with 
mails, and therefore post-roads built and owned by the Gov¬ 
ernment are unnecessary. Mails can always be carried on 
trains, boats and hacks that carry passengers. It would be 
very expensive for the Government to build and own rail¬ 
roads and steamboats and rock roads for the sole purpose of 
carrying the mails, and if it undertook to lessen the expense 
by carrying passengers and freight, it would thereby enter 
into competition with private citizens engaged in a like busi¬ 
ness—a thing a popular government cannot justly do. The 
Congress, has, therefore, by a general law, declared that all 
railroads, all navigable waters of the United States, all canals. 


THE POST OFFICE. 


85 


all pike and toll roads and all public roads, are post-roads, 
and then authorized the Postmaster-General, who is the chief 
officer of the Postal Department, ‘'to establish post offices 
at all such places on post-roads as he shall deem expedient,” 
and to contract for the carrying of mails along such post¬ 
roads. He contracts with railroads, and steamboats, and 
ships, and the owners of hacks and horses, to carry the mails 
at regular intervals each day or each week. The Government 
furnishes bags and pouches in which the mails are carried, 
and charges all senders of mail the same rates for carrying 
their letters and packages. It appoints a postmaster for 
each post office, and furnishes him as many assistants as he 
needs, and pays him and them for their services. In the 
larger cities it builds and owns its own post offices, but in all 
other places it rents the offices. 

97. Classes of Mail Matter.—All mailable matter 
has by law been divided into four classes: first, written mat¬ 
ter, such as letters and postal cards, on which the postal rate 
for letters is two cents for each ounce in weight or fraction 
thereof, and one cent for each postal card; second, periodical 
publications, such as newspapers and magazines issued as 
often as four times a year, the postal charges for carrying 
which are a cent a pound when sent by the publisher; third, 
miscellaneous printed matter, such as books, pamphlets and 
circulars, in unsealed envelopes or packages not exceeding 
four pounds, for which the postal rate is one cent for each 
two ounces of weight; and, fourth, merchandise, not exceed¬ 
ing four pounds in weight, for which the postal rate is one 
cent an ounce. The postal charges for carrying second class 
matter must be paid in money, and for the other classes they 
must be paid in stamps. These rates are uniform through¬ 
out the United States, and are the same whether the mailed 
article is to be carried to the next town or to the furthest 
town in this country, or to Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippine 
Islands, Porto Rico, or other island possessions of the United 


86 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


States. They are, of course, subject to change, and will be 
altered whenever Congress thinks it necessary. 

98. Classes of Postmasters.—Postmasters are also 
divided into four classes. The first class embraces all those 
whose annual salaries are three thousand dollars or more; 
the second class, all those whose salaries are less than three 
thousand, but not less that two thousand; the third class, all 
those whose salaries are less than two thousand but not less 
than one thousand; and the fourth class, which includes by 
far more than all the others, embraces all those whose annual 
compensation is less than one thousand dollars. All post¬ 
masters of the first, second or third class are appointed by 
the President, with the consent of the Senate, and hence their 
offices are called “presidental post offices;” all postmasters 
of the fourth class are appointed by the Postmaster-General, 
or one of his numerous assistants, and need not be confirmed 
by the Senate. All postmasters are appointed for a term of 
four years, but may be sooner removed for cause. 

The class to which a postmaster belongs is determined 
by the gross receipts of his office. Thus, all offices whose 
gross receipts amount to $40,000 or more belong to the first 
class, and the salaries of their postmasters are increased above 
three thousand dollars a year in proportion as the amount of 
the gross receipts rise above forty thousand dollars; for in¬ 
stance, the postmaster of an office which yields each year six 
hundred thousand dollars in gross receipts is paid a salary of 
$6,000. All offices whose annual gross receipts are between 
$8,000 and $35,000 belong to the second class, and again the 
salaries of the potsmasters are correspondingly increased 
above $2,000 as these receipts rise above $8,000; all offices 
whose gross receipcs are above $1,900 and less than $8,000 
belong to the third class, and the salaries of their postmasters 
rise above $1,000 a year in proportion as the gross receipts 
rise towards $8,000. If the gross receipts of a post office are 
less than $1,900 a year, it is a fourth class office, and the com- 


THE POST OFFICE. 


87 


pensation of the postmaster is determined by the box-rents 
and stamps cancelled, he being allowed a certain per cent of 
the sums realized from these sources. 

99. Free Delivery.—For the purpose of speedily get¬ 
ting the mails to the people, letter carriers are employed in 
every city of fifty thousand population or over, to make free 
'delivery of the mail at the doors of those to whom it is ad¬ 
dressed, as often as the public business may require it, which 
is usually not less than twice each week day. They may also 
be employed, and usually are, in every city containing ten 
thousand inhabitants or at any post office whose gross re¬ 
ceipts reach ten thousand dollars a year. These carriers 
wear a uniform dress prescribed by the Postmaster-General, 
and some of them in the very large cities, and in sparsely 
settled outlying suburbs, are mounted on horses. Through¬ 
out any free delivery city mail boxes are provided where the 
people may deposit their mails without going to the post 
office. And for the immediate delivery of any letter received 
at the post office in any such free delivery city or in any town 
of more than four thousand inhabitants, a special delivery 
system has been provided, by which for a special ten-cent 
stamp attached to a letter, in addition to the customary two- 
cent stamp, a special person employed for the purpose im¬ 
mediately on its receipt bears the letter to the person to whom 
it is addressed. 

100. Rural Free Delivery.—In 1896 Congress made a 
small appropriation of money to be used by the Postmaster- 
General, as an experiment, in extending the system of the 
free delivery of mails to persons living in the country. The 
experiment proved attractive to the people, and in the next 
five years what is known as “rural free delivery” had grown 
so marvelously fast that one-third of all the territory suit¬ 
able for the purpose had been laid off into rural delivery 
routes, and probably at this time a million square miles of 


88 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


our country is daily reached by free carriers of mail, and each 
family in that wide extent of territory is supplied at its own 
gate with the mail conveniences enjoyed by those living 
within the immediate neighborhood of a city post office. The 
carrier is paid not exceeding $1,000 a year, travels 15 to 30 
miles a day, and leaves the mail for each family in a separate 
box placed at the most convenient spot along the route, but 
special delivery and registered letters he must deliver at the 
residence of the persons to whom addressed or to them in 
person. He can also sell them stamps and envelopes and 
money orders. Whenever rural delivery routes are established 
“star route” post offices, that is, post offices not reached by 
railroads, are abolished as no longer needed. 

101. Registered Letters.—In order that a patron may 
receive extra protection in the transportation of valuable 
mailable matter, he may, at an extra cost of eight cents, have 
his letter or package registered, and then the postal officials 
are required to keep and dispatch it in the most secure man¬ 
ner, and to trace it all along its route, and to deliver it only 
to the person to whom it is addressed or as he may in writing 
direct, and may take the written receipt of the person to 
whom it is delivered and return this to the sender. If the 
article is lost in transit, the sender may be reimbursed, not 
to exceed its value, up to ten dollars. All mailable matter 
sent from any post office to any part of the United States 
may be registered, and that sent to most foreign countries 
may be also. 

102. Money Orders.—Each principal post office is 
authorized to issue and to pay money orders for sums not ex¬ 
ceeding one hundred dollars each. This affords a convenient 
way of sending small amounts of money to any part of this 
country or to foreign countries. A person wishing to send 
money in this way takes it to the postmaster of a money- 
order office and for a few cents obtains a printed-and-written 


THE POST OFFICE. 


89 


order for the amount he wishes to send, and then forwards it 
to the person named therein as payee, and that person can 
collect the amount at the office on which the order is drawn. 

103. The Postal Union.—In 1875, the United States, 
every nation in Europe, and Egypt agreed upon and put in 
operation a uniform plan for the transfer and delivery of 
mail sent by an inhabitant of any of those countries to a per¬ 
son in any other of them. The rate for letters is five cents 
for each half ounce, and a letter with that amount of United 
States postage on it addressed to a person in any of those 
countries and mailed at your post office will be sent on to its 
destination just as it would were it addressed to a citizen of 
another State of this Union. The rate for newspapers 
weighing not over two ounces is one cent, and for books and 
other printed matter and patterns of merchandise not ex¬ 
ceeding 8f ounces in weight, is one cent for each two ounces. 
But if you should put only a two-cent stamp on your letter, 
it will be sent on and then the person receiving it must pay 
the balance and five cents extra. This international postal 
system is known as the “Postal Union,” and now embraces 
every nation in the world except China. But by special 
agreement mail between this country and Canada and Mex¬ 
ico is carried at the same rates as is the domestic mail of the 
respective countries, which is almost the same as our domes¬ 
tic rates. But in all international mail, care must be taken 
to exclude dutiable articles. The payment of tariff duties 
cannot be avoided by sending the article by mail, for if let¬ 
ters or packages are found on examination to contain arti¬ 
cles on which our laws have laid an impost, that duty must 
be paid before the article will be delivered. 

104. Growth of the Post Office.—The post office ex¬ 
isted in this country from the earliest settlement, but its de¬ 
velopment during the colonial days was slow. Slowly it was 
extended between the colonies along the coast, but not till 


90 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


1672 was there '‘a post to go monthly from New York to 
Boston.” As late as 1760 Benjamin Franklin startled the 
people by proposing “to run a stage wagon, to carry the mail 
from Philadelphia to Boston, once a week.” One of the ear¬ 
liest acts of the Continental Congress was the appointment of 
Franklin “to organize a post office and post routes from Fal¬ 
mouth, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia, for conveying intelli¬ 
gence and letters throughout this continent,” and to spread 
knowledge of the progress of the Revolution among the dif¬ 
ferent colonies, and we are told by the great historian, Ban¬ 
croft, that “he thus came to be known as the first postmas¬ 
ter-general.” Prior to that time newspapers were mostly 
printed by the postmasters of the several cities, and their 
papers had not only been sent free, but all others were ex¬ 
cluded from the mails. Franklin was the first to give equal 
privileges to all publishers. But because of the hard days 
that followed the Revolution, the postal system was so slowly 
developed that no postmaster-general was provided under 
the new Constitution until 1792, and in 1790 there were only 
75 post offices in the whole United States, and the entire 
cost of the system that year was only $37,935. Now there 
are more than a thousand times as many post offices as there 
were then, with an equal number of postmasters, and more 
than as many more clerks and carriers, and the annual cost 
of the department is more than two hundred and fifty mil¬ 
lion dollars, and the number of letters carried each year is 
over four billions, besides about an equal number of pieces 
of all other matter, and yet this immense cost is almost met 
by the sale of stamps and other postal receipts. The trans¬ 
portation of mails by railroads has largely supplanted the 
mail hack and the slow processes of former times. The Gov¬ 
ernment now requires its mails to be carried on the fastest 
trains, and letters can be sent to any nation in Europe in 
less time and at less cost than one could be sent from St. 
Louis to Washington sixty or seventy years ago. 


WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES, MILITIA. 91 


Questions on Chapter XI. 

1. What power has Congress over postal matters? (95) 

2. What effect has the exercise of this power had? (95) 

3. How? (95) 

4. Could Congress build post-roads of its own? (96) 

5. Why has it not done so? the first reason? the second? (96) 

6. What has Congress done instead? (96) 

7. Give some of the details of postal contracts and the postal sys¬ 

tem. (96) 

8. How many classes of mailable matter? (97) What does the 
first include and what are the rates? The second? The third? 
The fourth? (97) 

9. How uniform are these rates? (97) 

10. How many classes of postmasters? (98) 

11. What postmasters are embraced in the first class? The second? 
The third? The fourth? (98) 

12. Who appoints them? (98) For what term? (98) 

13. How is the class to which the postmaster belongs determined? 

(98) 

14. What offices belong to the first class? (98) 

15. What to the second? The third? The fourth? (98) 

16. What is said about free delivery? (99) 

17. About rural free delivery? (100) 

18. What is the benefit of registering letters? (101) 

19. What is said about postal money orders? (102) 

20. About the Postal Union? (103) 

21. Describe the growth of the postal system. (104) 


CHAPTER XII. 

WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES AND MILITIA. 

105. War. —Congress is also vested with the extra¬ 
ordinary power “to declare war, grant letters of marque and 
reprisal, and make rules concerning Captures on land and 
water.” 

War has been among the worst scourges of mankind. 
It should ever be viewed with horror. “In its best estate, it 
never fails to impose upon the people the most burdensome 



92 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


taxes and bitter personal sufferings. It always involves the 
prosperity, and frequently the very existence of the nation. 
In a republic, which is necessarily founded on peace, it some¬ 
times proves fatal to public liberty itself, by arousing among 
the people a fondness for military glory which induces them 
to readily follow wherever a successful commander will lead.” 
Few things could be so pregnant with danger to our country 
as a declaration of war. It cannot be justified except as the 
only means of putting an end to unbearable and wide-spread 
wrongs. Horrible as it is, the most civilized nations have at 
times, for their own preservation, been forced to resort to it. 
The Constitution, which is based on the principle that all au¬ 
thority in a republic is derived from the people, therefore, 
vested this power to declare war, not in the President, but in 
the immediate representatives of the people, who must in the 
end bear its burdens and feel its sufferings. Congress alone 
can declare war, but once declared, Congress has nothing 
more to do with it except to furnish men and means to carry 
it on. The carrying on of the war then becomes a duty of 
the executive department of the Government. The raising 
and equipment of troops, the buying or making of guns 
and cannon, the appointing of generals and officers, the plan¬ 
ning of campaigns and the fighting of battles, are to be done 
by the President and those to whom he shall assign these 
duties. 

106. Captures. —But Congress makes rules concern¬ 
ing what is to be done with property captured in war. Among 
most nations, if the capture is at sea, the vessel and all prop¬ 
erty on board are divided up among the officers and sailors 
of the vessel making the capture. Enemy’s property cap¬ 
tured on land is sold of destroyed, and captured men are held 
as prisoners of war till peace is declared, or are exchanged 
for our own captured men of like rank among the enemy. 

107. Letters of Marque and Reprisal may accom¬ 
pany war or may be used as a measure of peace. A reprisal 


WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES, MILITIA. 93 


is anything taken from an enemy in retaliation for a wrong 
done, and marque means border, and a letter of marque and 
reprisal means a license issued by the President to a private 
person to fit out an armed vessel at his own expense, called 
a privateer, and to cruise at sea and make prize of the en¬ 
emy’s ships or merchandise. Sometimes lawless persons of 
other nations seize or damage the ships of American citizens 
or other of their property along our borders, and refuse to 
pay for it, nor will their nation make reparation, and there¬ 
upon our Government may issue to such private citizens 
‘‘letters of marque and reprisal” which authorize them to 
seize the bodies or goods of the subjects of the offending 
nation, wherever they may be found, until satisfaction is 
made for the injury. And such letters may be issued either 
in times of war or peace, and if issued in times of peace that 
is done for the purpose of compelling the offending nation to 
force its subjects to cease their wrongs and to make repara¬ 
tion for those already done rather than risk the danger of a 
general war. But as a matter of fact letters of marque and 
reprisal are now rarely resorted to by any civilized nation, 
either in times of war or peace. 

108. Armies. —Congress has power “to raise and sup¬ 
port armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall 
be for a longer term than two years.” The President is the 
commander-in-chief of the army, in war or peace, and its or¬ 
ganization, equipment, movements and control are conduct¬ 
ed through the War Department, the chief officer of which is 
the Secretary of War. 

All able-bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen 
and forty-five years “constitute the national forces” and 
with the exception of a few specially exempt because of their 
occupations or religious belief, are “liable to perform military 
duty in the service of the United States.” Male citizens of 
that age are said to be of military age. They may never be 
called upon to perform military duty, but they are liable to 


94 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


be when Congress has need of them. The army in times of 
war consists of the regular army and the voluntary army. 

109. The Voluntary Army is raised by a call made by 
the President in obedience to a law of Congress, upon the 
various States for volunteers, or by his calling into active 
service the militia of the several States. If the militia and 
volunteer enlistments do not provide a sufficient army. Con¬ 
gress may direct a conscription, called during the Civil War 
a “draft.” Then all men of military age, except a few by 
law exempt, are enrolled for army duty and certain ones of 
them are chosen by lot and compelled to become soldiers or 
hire substitutes. 

The five wars this country has had were largely fought 
by volunteers from the farms and shops, and their conduct 
has proved that volunteers make the best soldiers, because 
the most intelligent and patriotic. When the great Civil 
War ended there were a million of such soldiers in arms, and 
the fact that they then peaceably submitted to disbandment 
and quietly went to their homes and took up again the duties 
of civil life is an earnest that our government will continue 
to be a republic. 

110. “The Regular Army is a permanent military es¬ 
tablishment, maintained in both peace and war, according to 
law.” It has been maintained in some size from almost the 
foundation of the Government. At first it was used to put 
down Indian uprisings, which frequently occurred suddenly. 
Then as the country grew more thickly populated and turbu¬ 
lent characters began to multiply, it was considered necessary 
to preserve peace and order. Now it is used almost entirely 
in the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, Alaska, Porto Rico and 
other places where order is not firmly established. 

Between the Mexican and Civil wars the army amounted 
to between 4,000 and 6,000 men and officers. As the troubles 
of the Civil War quieted, its size was fixed at 30,000 men. 


WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES, MILITIA. 95 


but soon afterwards reduced to 25,000, and remained about 
that size till the Spanish War of 1898. At the close of that 
war, the Philippine Islands and Porto Rico were added as 
‘‘island possessions,” and on February 2, 1901, Congress 
declared that “the total enlisted force at any time shall not 
exceed one hundred thousand men,” twelve thousand of 
whom may be natives of the Philippine Islands, and one reg¬ 
iment natives of Porto Rico. But the President may at any 
time reduce the size of the army to about 50,000 men and 
officers, and as a matter of fact, in 1911 it consisted of 73,672 
enlisted men and officers, of whom 5,442 were Philippine 
scouts and 562 were natives of Porto Rico. 

Soldiers are divided into three kinds, cavalry, artillery 
and infantry. Cavalry are mounted, artillery handle can¬ 
non, and infantry are light-arm foot soldiers. About one- 
fifth of the army are cavalry, nearly one-third artillery and 
the rest infantry. The artillery is divided into two branches: 
coast artillery, which has charge of fortifications along the 
coast, and field artillery, which accompanies an army in the 
field. 

For systematic management the army is arranged into 
divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions and companies. 
The unit of division of troops is the regiment, which is com¬ 
manded by a colonel, and consists, in the cavalry, of 12 com¬ 
panies, each of which may contain 43 privates, but may be 
increased by the President in his discretion to 76, and in the 
infantry to 127. Each regiment may consist of three bat¬ 
talions of four companies each. The commander of a bat¬ 
talion is a major and of a company is a captain. The whole 
army is organized into divisions composed of three brigades, 
and each brigade is composed of three or more regiments. 
The commander of a division is a major-general and of a 
brigade is a brigadier-general. 

The officers are educated and trained at the Military 
Academy at West Point, from cadets appointed by the Pres- 


96 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


ident. Once in four years one cadet is appointed from each 
Congressional district, two from each State at large, and not 
more than forty from the United States at large. The pri¬ 
vates are recruited or enlisted from volunteers throughout 
the land and each enlistment is for three years. 

111. How Supported.—Armies are supported by 
money raised by taxation. In times of wa,r taxes are higher 
and more things are taxed. The cost of the regular army is 
now about 98 million dollars a year, and the entire cost of 
the great Civil War was nearly eight billions. 

But lest a reckless Congress should undertake to commit 
the next Congress to a war and thus make impotent the voice 
of the people against it, or lest the army should get beyond 
the control of the Government, Congress is forbidden to ap¬ 
propriate money to carry on a war for a longer time than 
two years. Of course at the end of that time the incoming 
Congress can make other appropriations for maintaining the 
army if they consider it necessary that the war should go on. 
The framers of the Constitution felt that a great army is 
always to be dreaded in a republic, and hence this provi¬ 
sion is made, so that the soldiers may be disbanded and sent 
to their homes when the war is over, and so that the war 
may be ended whenever the people at the elections demand 
that it be no longer carried on. 

112. Rules and Regulations.—But not only does 
Congress have control over the moneys that go to support 
the army, but it is given power “to make rules for the gov¬ 
ernment and regulation of the army and navy.” The army 
cannot become greater than its creator. Neither can the 
navy. Each must itself be subject to the authority of Con¬ 
gress, and that means in the end it must be obedient to the 
will of the people. Congress not only determines how large 
the army shall be, under what rules it shall be organized and 
do its work, but how offenses of soldiers and officers shall be 


WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES, MILITIA. 97 


punished, and by whom, and if those regulations do not suit 
the people their remedy is to elect a Congress that will make 
different regulations. Thus we see that “the military au¬ 
thority must always be subject to the civil authority,’' and 
that means that armies are as much under the authority of 
law as is a private citizen. 

113. Navy .—The Congress is given the power “to pro¬ 
vide and maintain a navy.’’ Navies are supposed to be nec¬ 
essary to protect our commerce, deter other nations from 
attacking our coasts and from seizing our trading ships, and 
to quickly protect any citizen who may be lawfully sojourn¬ 
ing in another land. It is argued that a strong navy pre¬ 
vents war, gives confidence to foreign trade, and enforces 
respect for our country and its authority. In times of war, 
it fights the enemy at sea. It may be said that in the future 
nearly all wars between western nations will be fought at sea. 

Following the rule that, “in times of peace, prepare for 
war,’’ the Government is constantly enlarging and improv¬ 
ing its navy. At the close of the year 1911 there were com¬ 
pleted or building 35 first-class battleships, 12 armored 
cruisers, 6 double-turret monitors, 4 single-turret monitors, 
21 protected steel cruisers, 7 steel gunboats, 42 torpedo boat- 
destroyers, 35 torpedo boats and 36 submarine torpedo boats, 
besides a large number of other kinds. In all there were 212 
war vessels, besides a large number of auxiliaries, such as 
colliers and transports. 

The first-class battleships and monitors are named for 
the States, thus, “The Texas,’’ “The Missouri.’’ The new¬ 
est battleships cost about twelve million dollars, weigh twen¬ 
ty-seven thousand tons, and carry each 10 fourteen-inch 
guns, 21 five-inch, and 4 under-water torpedo tubes, and 
many other smaller or rapid-firing guns. The armored 
cruisers are scarcely less powerful, though their armament 
consists of smaller guns. They are protected by five-inch 


7 


98 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


belts of steel, tapering at stem and stern to a thickness of 
three inches, and extending from five feet below water line to 
the upper deck. These vessels travel all over the world, and 
visit any ports where the President may think American in¬ 
terests or citizens may be helped or protected by their pres¬ 
ence. 

The Navy was manned in October, 1911, with 3,099 
officers, and 46,759 enlisted men. It costs the people an¬ 
nually over one hundred and ten million dollars. 

114. Marine Corps.—Attached to the navy, though 
not a part of it, is the Marine Corps, consisting of 6,000 ma¬ 
rines and over 200 officers. Marines are sea soldiers, that is, 
soldiers trained to do duty with small guns in the navy and 
sent along with armed vessels to aid them in case of a battle, 
or to do duty in forts or garrisons on the sea coast. 

115. Officers of Navy.—The chief officer of the 
Navy of course is the President, but its affairs are conducted 
through the Navy Department, over which the President 
appoints a member of his Cabinet, the Secretary of the Navy, 
who superintends the work done by the navy, the movement 
and construction of ships, the enlistment of recruits, the 
appointment of officers. The chief active officer of the line 
is the rear-admiral. The classification of vessels and the 
assignment of officers are made according to rules formulated 
by the President, but in a general way it may be said that a 
rear-admiral commands a squadron, that is, a detachment of 
vessels employed on a particular sea or ocean, that vessels 
of the first class are commanded by captains, of the second 
class by commanders, of the third class by lieutenant com¬ 
manders, and that the class of a ship depends on the number 
of guns it carries. The active officers of the navy are edu¬ 
cated at the Government’s expense at the Naval Academy 
at Annapolis, from students called midshipmen, of whom 
there are five appointed each year from the whole country at 


WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES, MILITIA. 99 


large, and one for each Senator and Representative appointed 
on their recommendations every two years. 

116. Militia.—Congress has power “to provide for or¬ 
ganizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for govern¬ 
ing such part of them as may be employed in the service of 
the United States, reserving to the States respectively the 
appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the 
militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.” 

In each State there is a military organization supported 
by the State, called “the militia” or “National Guard.” Its 
officers are appointed by the Governor, and it is organized 
and trained by them according to rules prescribed by Con¬ 
gress. It is composed of local companies of young men who 
join voluntarily for the purpose of receiving military drill, 
and for all the States amounts to about 110,000 men. The 
United States furnishes them with uniforms and guns and all 
necessary equipments, and pays the expenses of such portions 
of them as the Governor may designate to engage in actual 
field or camp instruction while so employed. 

If a war comes up and it becomes necessary to raise a 
volunteer army, the President first calls forth the militia of 
each State, which, being already organized, uniformed and 
partly trained for army duty, can more quickly be put in the 
field than other volunteers, and when thus mustered in or 
“employed in the service of the United States” they at once 
become entirely subject to the discipline provided by Congress. 

The National Guard is now a part of the reserve forces 
of the United States army, and can at any time, for a period 
not exceeding nine months, be called forth by the President, 
to repel invasion from any foreign nation, or to repress re¬ 
bellion against the authority of the Government, or to exe¬ 
cute its laws, but until so called forth it remains subject to 
the orders of the Governor of its State, and may be used by 
him in suppressing any riot or other public disorder, and in 
otherwise enforcing the laws and preserving the public peace. 


100 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Of course, the militia constitutes a very small per cent 
of the people, but it may be made to include every man of 
military age in the State, for if the ordinary peace officers and 
the National Guard should prove inadequate to execute the 
laws, or suppress insurrection or repel invasion, the Governor 
could compel every male citizen between the ages of eighteen 
and forty-five years, except judges, civil officers and persons 
whose religion forbids them to bear arms, to enroll in the 
militia and do his part in preserving the life and authority of 
the State government. Not only that, but another clause of 
the Constitution (art. 4, sec. 4) provides that the United 
States shall protect each State “against invasion, and, on ap¬ 
plication of the Legislature or of the Executive (when the 
Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.” 
So we see from these clauses how highly the framers of the 
Constitution valued public order and the preservation of au¬ 
thority and government, for under them, the Governor could 
call to his aid, not only all the powers of the State, but the 
whole armed authority of the United States if it were needed 
to repel invasion or to put down domestic violence. 

117. Insurrection.—The Congress has power “to pro¬ 
vide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrection, and repel invasions.” This 
clause of the Constitution is no less important than the one 
which gives Congress power to declare war. Under it the 
“Whiskey Insurrection” was put down while Washington 
was President, and President Lincoln invoked it as the 
Union’s authority for putting down the secession movement. 
If the people were to resist a decision of the United States 
courts or the officers of the Union engaged in enforcing its 
laws, the President, aided by Congress, under this clause 
could call forth as much of the militia as he deemed necessary, 
if the usual officers and the regular army were not able to en¬ 
force order. Thus, while Washington was President, the 
people of western Pennsylvania resisted the officers who were 


WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES, MILITIA. 101 


appointed to collect the excise tax on distilled spirits, and 
drove the collectors out of their counties. When they were 
indicted by the Federal court, they resisted the marshal who 
came to arrest them, and when he came with deputies, they 
arose to the number of two thousand and forced them to flee 
for their lives, and armed and arranged themselves into com¬ 
panies. Thereupon, under this authority given the Congress 
‘To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of 
the Union,” the President called 15,000 men into the field 
from four near-by States, put them under the command of 
Governor Lee of Virginia, and suppressed this uprising in 
short order. This clause, then, gives the Congress and the 
President authority to put down uprisings against the laws of 
the Union and to enforce the judgments of its courts. 

118. Separate Authority of State and Nation.—It 
is necessary to remember that whether the State or the Union 
first acts in enforcing the law or suppressing public disorder, 
depends on whether it is the authority of the State or the 
authority of the Union that is resisted. If the people should 
resist a law of Congress or defy the authority of a Federal 
court, the President must act; but if they resist the laws of 
the Legislature or the authority of a State court, the Gov¬ 
ernor or some other State officer must act. In the Whiskey 
Insurrection we saw that the people resisted the collection of 
the United States revenue, and when they were indicted for 
that in a Federal court they resisted the authority of the 
marshal of that court who tried to arrest them. The marshal 
then called to his aid some deputies, but they too were over¬ 
come. It was not the duty of the Governor of Pennsylvania 
to step in and aid the marshal in enforcing the decrees of that 
court, for the uprising was not against the State government, 
but “the laws of the Union.” Therefore, when the marshal 
found “combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the 
ordinary course of judicial proceedings,” he called upon the 
President, who being without an army, called forth “the 


102 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


militia to execute the laws.” In our time, the President, in¬ 
stead of calling forth the militia, would first use so much of 
the regular army as he could readily send to the place of the 
disturbance, and if that proved insufficient he would call 
forth the National Guard of the States, and if it too was in¬ 
sufficient then Congress would authorize him to raise a volun¬ 
teer army. 

But if the uprising were wholly against the authority of 
a State court or were in resistance of the authority of a State 
officer, it would first be the duty of the sheriff to undertake 
to restore order and arrest the culprits, and if he and his 
ordinary deputies were not strong enough to do that, then 
his duty would be to resort to the posse comitatus, that is, 
to summon the men of his county to aid him, and if they 
proved insufficient he could call on the Governor, who could 
send the whole National Guard of the State to his aid, and if 
that proved insufficient the Governor could enroll all the 
men in the State liable to military duty, or before he did that, 
or afterwards, the Legislature or (if it could not be convened) 
the Governor could call on the President for help, and the 
President would then send him so much of the regular army 
as might be needed, and if that proved not enough then he 
could send the militia from other States. 

But sometimes the uprising may be against both State 
and National authority. Thus a destructive riot along a 
railroad might be such. In tearing up the tracks and burn¬ 
ing cars, the rioters would resist State authority; in stopping 
cars which carry mail, they would be resisting National au¬ 
thority. And in such case, the Governor or President or both 
may suppress them. 

Questions on Chapter XII. 

1. With what extraordinary power is Congress vested? (105) 

2. Can the President declare war? (105) 

3. Who carries it on after it is declared? (105) 


WAR, INSURRECTION, ARMIES, NAVIES, MILITIA. 103 


4. What is done with the men captured in war? (106) 

5. State what you understand to be meant by letters of marque 

and reprisal? (107) 

6. What are the powers of Congress in reference to armies? (108) 

7. How is the organization, etc., of any army conducted? (108) 

8. Who constitute the national forces? (108) 

9. What are citizens of that age said to be? (108) 

10. How is the army divided? (108) 

11. How is a volunteer army raised? (109) 

12. What is a conscription? (109) 

13. By whom have the wars of this country largely been fought? 

(109) 

14. How many of such soldiers at the close of the Civil War, and 

what did they then do? (109) 

15. What is said of the regular army? (110) 

16. What is now its size and what was it previously? (110) 

17. How are soldiers divided? (110) 

18. How is the army divided? (110) 

19. What is the size of a regiment and of a company? (110) 

20. How many battalions in a regiment? (110) 

21. Name the commander of a company, a battalion, a regiment? 

( 110 ) 

22. How is a brigade and a division composed? (110) 

23. Who commands them? (110) 

24. Where are officers educated? (110) 

25. How are armies supported? (Ill) 

26. What is the present cost of the regular army? (Ill) 

27. Why are appropriations for a war forbidden for a longer time 

than two years? (Ill) 

28. How about regulations for the army and navy? (112) 

29. Why should Congress have this right? (112) 

30. Must military authority be subject to law? (113) 

31. Why is a navy supposed to be necessary? (113) 

32. Name some of the vessels belonging to the navy in 1906? (118) 

33. How are first class battleships and monitors named? (113) 

34. Describe a new battleship. (113) 

35. What is the size and annual cost of the navy? (113) 

36. What are marines? (114) 

37. Who is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy? (108 

and 115) 

38. How are the affairs of the navy conducted? (115) 


104 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


39. Discuss the classification of vessels and assignment of officers in 

the navy. (115) 

40. Upon what does the classification of a ship depend? (115) 

41. How are naval officers educated? (115) 

42. What power has Congress in reference to the militia? (116) 

43. How is the militia of each State organized? (116) 

44. Describe what is done when a war comes on. (116) 

45. What is said of the National Guard? (116) 

46. How large may the militia become? (116) 

47. When and how might that be done? (116) 

48. What is provided by another clause of the Constitution? (116) 

49. What may the Governor do to repel invasion or put down do¬ 

mestic violence? (116) 

50. What other important power has Congress? (117) 

51. On what two important occasions was this power invoked? (117) 

52. If the people were to resist the officers of the Union or the au¬ 
thority of the Federal courts, what could the President do? 

(117) 

53. Describe how this was done in the Whiskey Insurrection? (117) 

54. What authority then does this clause give Congress and the 

President? (117) 

55. Whether the State or Union first acts in suppressing public dis¬ 

orders, depends on what? (118) 

56. If a law of Congress or the authority of a Federal court is re¬ 

sisted, who must act? (118) 

57. If the laws or authority of a State are resisted, who must act? 

(118) 

58. Give an example? (118) 

59. What would the President now do instead of calling forth the 

militia? (118) 

60. Describe the course that would be pursued if the uprising were 

wholly against the State authority. (118) 

61. If the uprising were against both State and National authority 

who would suppress it? (118) 


POWERS DENIED TO THE UNITED STATES. 


105 


CHAPTER XIII. 

POWERS DENIED TO THE UNITED STATES. 

119. Importation of Slaves.—The Constitution (art. 
1, sec. 9, par. 1) said that Congress should not prior to 1808 
prohibit “the migration or importation of such persons as 
any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit.” 
This meant that Congress could not prohibit the importation 
of slaves into the United States prior to 1808. 

It was the first public act by any nation in the world 
against the then prevalent sin of capturing negroes in Africa, 
bringing them to the New World and selling them into slavery, 
and while it did not and was not intended to put a im¬ 
mediate stop to that traffic, yet when the year 1808 had 
arrived Congress lost no time in prohibiting, by severe pen¬ 
alties, the importation of “such persons” into this country. 
For some reason the words slave or negro or “persons of 
African descent” are not used in this clause, but it has always 
been admitted that it refers to the African slave-trade. Since 
slavery has long since been abolished the clause is now only 
of historical interest, first, as indicating how slavery was then 
regarded, not only by the framers of the Constitution, but 
by the States which adopted it, and, secondly, as con¬ 
taining one of the powers denied to Congress. 

120. Habeas Corpus.—The Constitution says (art. 1, 
sec. 9, par. 2) that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus 
shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or 
invasion the public safety may require it.” 

The words habeas corpus are Latin words, which mean, 
“have you the body,” and the writ of habeas corpus is a sum- 


106 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


mons to a sheriff or other officer commanding him to have 
the body of the accused person before the court forthwith, 
and to show by what authority he deprives him of his liberty, 
and when the officer makes return to that summons the court 
puts aside all other business and proceeds at once to deter¬ 
mine whether or not the accused is being legally held, and if 
he is not he is discharged. In former times men were arrested 
on suspicion, or because the mob raised an uproar against 
them, or because the officer or the king hated them. They 
were confined in prison on mere oral charges, or without any 
formal accusation in writing, or without trial. Such things 
could not occur in our country. Now when a person is ar¬ 
rested, a warrant, in which is formally stated the crime he is 
charged with having committed, must be issued by the court, 
either before or immediately after his arrest, and if that is ‘ 
not done, not only is the officer holding him and his bonds¬ 
men liable to him for damages, but he can go to any higher 
court, even the highest in the State, and in some instances 
even to the Supreme Court of the United States, and imme¬ 
diately by habeas corpus obtain his discharge. Even though 
the accused person has been convicted of a crime, the officer 
holding him must always be prepared to show some formal 
authority for restraining him of his liberty, or he can be re¬ 
leased on habeas corpus. 

The great purpose of the writ of habeas corpus is to force 
courts to give an accused a fair, speedy, public trial by a jury 
according to the forms of law, and to restrain sheriffs and 
other officers from arbitrary and cruel arrests and from 
acting as judges themselves. It can be suspended only in 
times of rebellion or invasion. 

121. Bills of Attainder and Ex Post Facto Laws.— 
The Constitution also says that “no bill of attainder or ex 
post facto law shall be passed.” A bill of attainder is a legis¬ 
lative act that inflicts punishment without judicial trial. A 
bill brought into Congress or a legislature, condemning to 


POWERS DENIED TO THE UNITED STATES. 


107 


punishment the person named, without a sentence or trial 
of a court, would be such a bill. Formerly such bills were 
passed by Parliament in England, and the person thus pun¬ 
ished was said to be attainted; that is, his blood was said to 
be corrupted, he could neither acquire property nor transmit 
it to his children, and he was denied the protection of the 
laws. Such a bill would be contrary to the Constitution. 
No humane people would uphold it. It is an instrument of 
oppression and tyranny. It would be absolutely destructive 
of trial by jury. It would make out of the legislative body 
an arbitrary and irresponsible despot, punishable by no one, 
however extravagant its actions. It belongs only to cruel 
or barbarous nations. This clause in the Constitution is of 
chief interest to us as indicating how determined our fore¬ 
fathers were to make entirely separate the legislative and 
judicial powers of government. Their idea was that an ac¬ 
cused person could only be convicted by a jury. Trials be¬ 
long to courts, and all trials ought to be in courts and the guilt 
or innocence of the accused determined by an impartial jury. 
A legislative body may investigate the guilt of one of its own 
members to the extent of determining whether or not he is 
to remain a member or be expelled, and it may do the same 
in impeaching an executive officer, but it cannot pronounce 
a private citizen guilty of a crime. 

Ex post facto laws are equally unfair. They make an 
act a crime against which there was no law when the act was 
committed. They declare certain conduct to be criminal 
and provide punishment for any person who has been guilty 
of that conduct at any time in the past. Such laws would be 
unjust. Certainly no one ought to be punished for doing a 
thing which was not a crime when he did it. 

And the Constitution not only says that Congress must 
not pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto law, but it as 
plainly says (art. 1, sec. 10, par. 1) that no State shall pass 
any such bill or law. And if either Congress or the Legisla- 


108 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


ture should do so, the courts would step in to prevent its en¬ 
forcement. Thus the United States Supreme Court declared 
the test oath section of the Constitution of Missouri of 1865, 
which provided that men, who in the past had been guilty 
of certain things, could not preach, practice law, or follow 
certain other pursuits, to be an ex post facto law, and refused 
to permit any one to be punished who violated it. And if 
the Congress should so far forget itself as to try to punish 
a person by bill of attainder, the same court would issue its 
writ of habeas corpus and discharge that person. 

122. Export Tax.—‘‘No tax or duty shall be laid on 
articles exported from any State.” We have seen in Chapter 
VI. that Congress may lay a tax on things imported into this 
country and on lands and on things consumed here. But nei¬ 
ther it nor the State can lay an export tax on things shipped 
abroad. It was supposed that foreign commerce would be 
greatly encouraged if the Government charged nothing for 
the privilege of shipping goods out of this to other countries. 

123. Regulations of Commerce.—It would be a vio¬ 
lation of the Constitution for a sectional party to undertake 
to build up the business of its section at the expense of an¬ 
other part of the country. To do that is an ever-present 
temptation to selfish Congressmen, but the Constitution says 
that “no preference shall be given by any regulation of com¬ 
merce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of an¬ 
other.” Congress is given power “to regulate commerce 
with foreign nations,” but in doing that it must have equal 
regard for the interests of each State. Anything less than 
that is bad faith, and the party responsible for it should be 
defeated at the elections. 

Foreign commerce increases the business and riches of 
that part of the country which engages in it. It can be aided 
by a supply pf sufficient ports and wharfs and collectors, and 
crippled by a failure to supply them, for ships will always 


POWERS DENIED TO THE UNITED STATES. 


109 


prefer ports at which they can quickly load and unload, and 
railroads will center at a port where their freights and passen¬ 
gers can be quickly sent on their way across the sea, and 
where they may quickly transfer to their cars cargoes for 
shipment into the interior of the country. So that it is the 
duty of Congress to supply each port with such accommoda¬ 
tions as its trade may reasonably require, and the extent of 
such accommodations will always depend on the natural 
needs (or advantages) of the port. The trade that naturally 
will flow into one port will certainly be larger than that of 
another port, and the size of the wharf, the docks, the number 
of collectors, the depth of the water must be commensurate 
therewith. But all ports must be treated with equal-handed 
fairness, according to their natural needs. The primary 
principle of American government is justice, and this clause 
of the Constitution requires that Congress in regulating for¬ 
eign commerce must be just—^just to all the States alike. 

124. Free Trade.—The Constitution guarantees to the 
States absolute free trade with each other. It says, ‘'Nor 
shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, 
clear or pay duties in another.” New Orleans cannot assess 
tariff taxes on a cargo of goods shipped to her port from 
Boston (if made there or anywhere else in the Unired States). 
St. Louis cannot collect import duties on a cargo of cotton 
shipped to her from South Carolina. 

Until lately this clause was generally understood to 
apply to every State and Territory and possession of the 
United States. But recently it was held that Congress could 
limit its application to the States alone, and could require 
the inhabitants of the conquered or purchased islands belong¬ 
ing to the United States to pay tariff duties on all their goods 
shipped into any State and make those tariffs higher or lower 
than those charged against goods from other countries. 

125. Appropriations.—No money can be paid out of 
the Treasury except “in consequence of appropriations made 


110 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

by law.” Neither "*1116 President nor the courts nor any ex¬ 
ecutive officer can spend any of the Government’s money 
until Congress consents. Congress can alone declare what 
the moneys collected into the Treasury by taxation may be 
used for. This it does by laws called appropriation bills. 
These bills set out in detail the things for which the money 
may be spent. Then there are auditors and comptrollers 
of the Treasury, who examine every item of expenditure and 
see that no money is paid out except for the purposes for 
which Congress appropriated it. In order that the people 
may know how the public revenue is being spent, and in 
order that Congress may know that it has been spent just as 
it has directed, '‘a regular statement and account of the re¬ 
ceipts and expenditures of all public money shall be pub¬ 
lished from time to time.” Appropriation bills may be 
passed at any session. 

126. Titles.—No title of nobility can be granted by 
the United States. Titles of nobility are lord, earl, duke, 
duchess, baron, princess. In other countries they are granted 
by the monarch or inherited from an ancestor. They are 
out of harmony with the basic principles of a republic, which 
is that all citizens have equal rights before the law. A re¬ 
public cannot prefer some of its citizens over others. To 
recognize titles by law would be to create ranks among the 
people. And of course our Government will not permit 
another nation to confer titles upon its citizens which it can¬ 
not itself confer. 

127. Presents.—No person holding any office of profit 
or trust under the United States shall, without the consent of 
Congress, accept of any present, office or title, of any kind 
whatever, from any other nation or any of its officers. For 
him to do so might lessen his loyalty to his own country. 
American officers are chosen to look after the public business 
which the people through their laws have directed to be done. 


POWERS DENIED TO THE UNITED STATES. 


Ill 


But nevertheless now and then weak nattfres find their way 
into public office who might be won away from their devotion 
to their own government by an empty title or a valuable 
present from another nation. Besides, the acceptance of 
such titles or presents might create jealousies among other 
nations, and troublesome and “entangling alliances.” The 
course of our government has always been to have no favor¬ 
ites among nations, no entangling alliances with any. 

128. Freedom of Religion.—The first amendment to 
the Constitution is: “Congress shall make no law respecting 
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, 
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to peti¬ 
tion the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

Prior to the Revolutionary War the citizens of some of 
the colonies had been taxed to maintain a church which had 
been imposed upon them, either by the English government, 
to which they were subject, or by their own legislatures. This 
part of the Constitution absolutely prohibits such taxation. 
But on the contrary it allows all men to adopt and practice 
such religion as they may severally choose. It entirely sepa¬ 
rates Church and State. It should be observed that the pro¬ 
hibition is against an “establishment of religion.” That 
means, a church established by the Government and support¬ 
ed by the Government. It does not prohibit the establish¬ 
ment of churches by any of its citizens, and their support in 
any way they may wish. On the contrary, it specifically 
says that no law “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion 
by any person shall ever be passed by Congress. 

129. Free Speech and a Free Press.—Freedom of 
speech and freedom of the press mean the right to speak or 
write whatever is true; they do not mean the right to speak 
or write a falsehood. In some governments at the time the 
Constitution was framed, and even in some of the colonies 


112 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


prior to the Revolution, there were officers called censors of 
the press through whose hands was required to pass every 
article an editor desired to print, and they struck out of it 
any sentence or any part that they did not approve. This 
is what is meant by ‘‘abridging the freedom of the press.” 
‘‘Abridging the freedom of the press” means that an editor 
or author is not to be permitted to print whatever he may 
desire to print, but only such things as a public censor per¬ 
mits him to print, and this first amendment means that Con¬ 
gress shall pass no law curtailing the editor’s or author’s free¬ 
dom in that way. In this country an editor may write what 
he pleases and any citizen may say what he pleases, but he 
must pay the consequences if it is not true. He can even 
write and say things that are untrue and vicious, but he may 
be punished for doing so. The law gives, him full liberty to 
write or speak what he pleases, but for an abuse of that lib¬ 
erty he may be punished. Malicious falsehoods spoken of 
another are slander; if written or printed of another, they 
are libel. If the speech of a citizen or the writing of an editor 
become so indecent as to be slanderous or libelous, he may be 
sued for damages, and in extreme cases, fined and impris¬ 
oned. But unless one’s speech or writing disturbs another’s 
peace, or is so indecent and false as to amount to malicious 
libel, or is obscene, the courts will not punish him for crime, 
but will permit the injured party to seek redress for the 
injury done him by a suit for damages. Moreover, if the 
book or paper is so indecent as to corrupt public morals, or 
such a base humbug as to deceive and defraud the people, 
or so inflammable as to excite them to disorders. Congress 
will deny it the use of the mails. So we may say that our 
‘‘freedom of speech and freedom of the press” mean that we 
may freely speak or write whatever is true and decent. 

130. Peaceable Assembly and Petition.—The peo¬ 
ple do not have to ask their officers in this country to peace¬ 
ably assemble. They can do so without permission from any 


POWERS DENIED TO THE UNITED STATES. 


113 


one. That is a right they have reserved for themselves, and 
no one can take it from them. Not only can they assemble; 
they can also remonstrate in an orderly way against the 
action of their officers, and they always have the right to 
petition the Government for redress of grievances. Those 
rights inhere in the people wherever there is freedom. Of 
course, the Government (State or National) may disperse a 
mob or a disorderly crowd, but so long as assemblies are peace¬ 
able and orderly and do not interfere with the rights of others 
no officer has any right to interfere with them. 

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of as¬ 
semblage and freedom of religion are some of the tests by 
which a people’s liberties may be measured; but they are all 
to be enjoyed within the limits set out in the last three sec¬ 
tions. Thomas Jefferson said that “error of opinion may be 
tolerated where reason is left free to combat it,’’ and it is in 
order that reason may freely combat any error, that freedom 
to speak and to write and to worship and to peaceably assem¬ 
ble has been guaranteed to us. The purpose of that freedom 
is that error may be abondoned, that the abuses of govern¬ 
ment may be corrected, and not that government may be de¬ 
stroyed, or disorder encouraged, or officers maligned, or pri¬ 
vate persons slandered, or the public scandalized. 

131. Reserved Powers.—The tenth amendment is: 
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Con¬ 
stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to 
the States respectively, or to the people.’’ The Union is 
under the same obligation to refrain from trespassing upon 
the powers retained by the States that the States are to sub¬ 
mit to the powers delegated to the Union. Neither has the 
right to deny the powers of the other. Our dual form of gov¬ 
ernment—by the States and by a Union of States—conserves 
the peace of society and preserves the rights of the citizen 
far better than either the State or the Union alone could do it. 


8 


114 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


But there are many powers which are retained by the peo¬ 
ple, powers that they have not delegated either to the State 
or the Union, and the Constitution specifically says that those 
powers have not been delegated to the United States. The 
people may sometime very greatly enlarge the powers of the 
President or of Congress by amending the Constitution, but 
always and under every circumstance the powers of the 
United States are limited by the Constitution and amend¬ 
ments thereto. 


Questions on Chapter XIII. 

1. What does the Constitution say about the slave trade? (119) 

2. What is further said about that provision? (119) 

3. What does the Constitution say about habeas corpus? (120) 

4. What do these words mean and what is the writ? (120) 

5. In former times how were men arrested and held? (120) 

6. Could that occur now? (120) 

7. Suppose an officer arrests a person without a warrant? (120) 

8. What must the officer always be prepared to show? (120) 

9. What is the great purpose of the writ? (120) 

10. When may it be suspended? (120) 

11. What is a bill of attainder? (121) 

12. An ex post facto law? (121) 

13. Can such bills and laws exist in this country? (121) 

14. Can Congress lay an export tax? (122) 

15. What about preference in the regulation of commerce or revenue? 

(123) 

16. How can Congress aid and cripple commerce? (123) 

17. Will one port naturally require more aid than another? (123) 

18. How should Congress act in all things? (123) 

19. Is there free trade among the States? (124) 

20. What clause of the Constitution guarantees it? (124) 

21. Does that clause apply to island possessions? (124) 

22. How may money be paid out of the Treasury? (125) 

23. Can Congress or the President confer titles of nobility? (126) 

24. Can American citizens accept them from other nations? (126) 

25. Can an officer accept presents from another nation? (127) 

26. What has always been the course of our government? (127) 

27. What does the Constitution say about freedom of religion? (128) 


POWERS DENIED TO THE STATES. 


115 


28. What does this provision prohibit and what does it mean? (128) 

29. What does the Constitution say about freedom of speech and 

of the press? (128) 

30. What do freedom of speech and of the press mean? (129) 

31. What do they not mean? (129) 

32. What does “abridging the freedom of the press” mean? (129) 

33. What may an editor do in this country? (129) 

34. What is slander? What libel? (129) 

35. What are the penalties for slander and libel? (129) 

36. What does the Constitution say about assemblage and petition? 

(128) 

37. Have the people the right to peaceably assemble and remon¬ 

strate against grievances? (130) 

38. What are some of the tests of a people’s liberties? (130) 

39. How are they to be enjoyed? (130) 

40. What is the purpose of these privileges? (130) 

41. What is the tenth amendment? (131) 

42. What obligation is the Union under? (131) 

43. What is the benefit of our dual government? (131) 

44. What is said about powers retained by the people? (131) 


CHAPTER XIV. 

POWERS DENIED TO THE STATES. 

132. Powers to Make Treaties. —All powers that 
must of necessity concern the whole Union are denied to the 
States. Thus we have seen in section 50 that treaties may 
relate to a settlement of the national boundary or the terms 
upon which trade may be carried on between citizens of 
this country and foreign countries. One can readily see how 
the internal peace and harmony of the country could be dis¬ 
turbed if the Union should insist on a certain line as the 
boundary and a State had the power to fix upon another line. 
If in settling the boundary line between the United States 
and the Spanish possessions in America, the Union had agreed 



116 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


that it should be the Rio Grande and the State of Louisiana 
had had power to agree that it might be the Sabine and Red 
rivers, troublesome confusion would have arisen. And sup¬ 
pose that, although Congress under its power to levy imposts 
had fixed a tariff charge at certain rates, a State had power 
by treaty to agree with any nation that so much of its goods 
as came to its ports should enter free, and then under the 
clause which guarantees absolute free trade between the 
States it began to ship those goods all over the Union: The re¬ 
sult would be that the law passed by Congress would break 
down, and the Union itself would prove a useless thing. To 
avoid any such results the Constitution (art. 1, sec. 10, par. 
1) says that ‘‘no State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or 
confederation.” The power to make treaties is vested solely 
in the President and Senate. 

133. General Welfare Provisions. —The Preamble 
declares that one of the purposes of forming the Union was to 
‘‘promote the general welfare.” In keeping with that pur¬ 
pose the Constitution denies to each State the power to coin 
money, to emit bills of credit to do duty as money, or to 
make anything except gold and silver coin a tender in pay¬ 
ment of debts. It is easy to see that business transactions 
are greatly facilitated by uniform money for the whole Union, 
and this clause makes it impossible for any State, by issuing 
different coins or moneys of its own devising, to bring con¬ 
fusion into the monetary system provided by Congress. 

So, also, it will readily be seen that foreign commerce 
would be in endless confusion if each State could impose im¬ 
port taxes different from those laid by Congress, and for that 
reason ‘‘no State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay 
any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may 
be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws,” 
and even then ‘‘all such laws shall be subject to the revision 
and control of Congress,” and the net sums realized from such 
taxes shall be turned over to the United States Treasury. 


POWERS DENIED TO THE STATES. 


117 


Thus we see that the purposes of these inhibitions on 
the powers of the States were not to humiliate them, or take 
from them any power many of them would ever wish to ex¬ 
ercise, but to so unify the moneys of the country that ‘‘com¬ 
merce among the States” would be easy, and to make so uni¬ 
form the impost taxes that one State would not be con¬ 
stantly trying to build up its own trade and wealth at the 
expense of another. 

134. Impairment of Contracts.—“No State shall 
.... pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts.” 
These are simple words, yet so perverse is human nature 
that no other clause in the Constitution has so often been 
invoked or disregarded. They mean that when one enters 
into a contract, no State can do the immoral thing of helping 
him to break it. Contracts underlie the whole framework 
of modern industry. The prosperity of all persons depends 
on the faithful keeping of contracts. No State can relieve 
itself of its own contracts with private citizens, or relieve its 
citizens of their contracts with each other, or with citizens of 
other States, nor can the United States do so. A town may 
issue its bonds to pay for an electric light plant, and those 
bonds it must pay; it cannot refuse to pay them because after 
a few years it ceased to use the lights; nor can the Legislature 
or the town council excuse the town from paying them if 
they were lawfully issued. Of course, no one is compelled 
to keep an unlawful contract. This clause of the Constitu¬ 
tion means that no State, no person, not even the United 
States, can repudiate a lawful contract legally entered into. 
It means that when you solemnly agree with another person 
to do a thing which the law permits to be done, the law will 
compel you, at that other person’s request, to keep and per¬ 
form your agreement. It would seem that every good per¬ 
son would do this, without any law. But many persons will 
not pay their debts, or do many other things thay have 
agreed to do, and therefore the law not only says that they 


118 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


must fulfill their contracts, but the Constitution says that 
no State can pass a law relieving them from that obligation. 

135. The State and Nation.—No State is a nation. 
“No State, without the consent of Congress, shall keep 
troops or ships of war in times of peace, enter into any agree¬ 
ment or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, 
or engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such immi¬ 
nent danger as will admit of no delay.” A government that 
cannot do these things is not a nation. A State is almost 
supreme in the control of its internal affairs, and in managing 
them few things are denied to it by the Constitution; besides, 
it can do anything which it is not specifically prohibited by the 
Constitution from doing, and the things it is prohibited from 
doing nearly all relate to external matters—to its relations 
with other States or nations. 

(1) The State cannot have a navy in times of peace or 
maintain a standing army except by consent of Congress. 
The Union, by the Constitution, was made to shoulder all the 
external troubles of a State. It was given power to “repel 
invasions,” and to raise armies, maintain a navy and call 
forth the militia for that purpose, and therefore there is no 
need for a State to “keep troops or ships of war in times of 
peace.” 

(2) Congress is given power “to declare war;” it would 
be destructive of all national peace and harmony if any 
State, without consulting the others, could “engage in war.” 
If a State could do that, one turbulent State could constantly 
be involving all the others in trouble. 

(3) The Union is given power “to make treaties” and 
“to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the 
States,” and therefore as to such matters there is no necessity 
for one State to enter into an “agreement or compact with 
another State or with a foreign power.” Two adjoining 
States have been known to enter into agreements as to their 
relative boundaries. Thus, when Kentucky became a State, 


POWERS DENIED TO THE STATES. 


119 


both she and Virginia claimed a wide strip of country along 
the Cumberland mountains and the Big Sandy river, and 
the matter was settled by each State appointing commission¬ 
ers to locate the dividing line, and when they agreed thereon 
the Legislature of each State adopted their report, and thus 
by compact with each other nearly all the disputed lands 
were agreed to belong to Kentucky. This was in fact an 
agreement or compact, but it was not such a one as is meant 
by this clause of the Constitution; it was rather a peaceable 
attempt to ascertain what portions of the land belonged to 
each State, and to definitely fix the dividing line, so that the 
inhabitants there might know to which State they were to 
look for protection in the enjoyment of their property and 
civil rights. These words of the Constitution mean that 
“no State shall enter into an agreement or compact with 
another State or with a foreign power” to subvert the au¬ 
thority of the Union, or nullify its laws, or to gain advan¬ 
tage for itself because of their weakness. They mean that 
Pennsylvania cannot agree with Canada to sell her coal in 
exchange for pine lumber, in defiance of the tariff laws of 
Congress; they mean that Missouri could not agree with 
Illinois and the other States of the Mississippi valley that no 
Italians shall ever settle within their borders or that no 
naturalized foreigners shall ever vote. They mean, in short, 
that no State can ever enter into a compact with another to 
do any of those things which the Constitution clearly says 
Congress shall have power to do. 

All the things that are by this clause denied to the States 
are the things that always belong to a nation. A nation, 
whether it be a republic or a monarchy, always has power 
to make treaties, to regulate foreign commerce, to raise 
armies, levy import taxes and maintain navies. The Gov¬ 
ernment of the United States can do these things, and there¬ 
fore it is a nation. The States cannot do them; they are not 
nations. We see from this how anxious the American peo- 


120 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


pie were “to form a more perfect Union,” when they volun¬ 
tarily adopted a Constitution that took from the States all 
possibility of doing these things, which each might have 
done for itself had there been no Union. But without a sur¬ 
render of those things there would have been no Union, and 
without the Union it is most likely that long ago the States 
would have devoured each other. These things were wisely 
committed to the Union, and denied to the States. The 
Union can do them better than the States, and therefore the 
States should not undertake them at all. If both the Union 
and the individual States could do such things there would 
not only be a clash of authority, but a divided authority. A 
divided authority is almost the same as no authority. Final 
authority must be lodged somewhere, and final authority to 
act upon all subjects that must necessarily concern all the 
people of the Union should be lodged in the Union, and that 
is what this clause of the Constitution means. 

136. Slavery Prohibited.—“Neither slavery nor in¬ 
voluntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof 
the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within 
the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” 
This is the thirteenth amendment and was proclaimed rat¬ 
ified December 18, 1865. Had it been put into the original 
Constitution it is possible the Civil War would never have 
been fought, but had the Constitution contained such a 
clause it is doubtful if the Union could ever have been formed. 
Nothing was said about abolishing slavery by the convention 
that framed it. On the contrary, the Constitution con¬ 
tained a provision, which, by this amendment, has been re¬ 
pealed, that Congress could not prohibit the importation 
of African slaves prior to 1808, and declared that this pro¬ 
vision could not be amended until after that time. But the 
abolition of slavery has removed the only serious conflict 
that ever existed between the States and the Union, and now 
their relations promise only peace and harmony for the future. 


POWERS DENIED TO THE STATES. 


121 


137. Equality of Suffrage.—The fifteenth amend¬ 
ment, proclaimed ratified March 30, 1870, is in these words: 
‘‘The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not 
be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” 
This is the last amendment. It was made to secure to for¬ 
mer slaves and their descendants the right to vote. In some 
States, however, legislatures have adopted an educational 
qualification for voting, and such tests have been held not 
to be in conflict with this amendment. It does not confer 
the right to vote on any one. It simply says that neither 
the State nor the United States can deny to a citizen that 
right because of his color, race or previous condition of serv¬ 
itude. The State can deny to its citizens the right to vote 
on any other ground; but it cannot enact an election law that 
discriminates against any citizen because of his color. 

138. Equality of Citizenship.—The fifteenth amend¬ 
ment does not confer the right to vote upon any one. It 
simply says that the right to vote cannot be denied to any 
citizen because of his race or color. But it was once thought 
that each State would be induced to confer the right to vote 
on all male citizens twenty-one years of age by certain pro¬ 
visions of the fourteenth amendment. That amendment, 
after providing that “all persons born or naturalized in the 
United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are 
citizens of the United States, and of the State in which they 
reside,” proceeds to say that “when the right to vote is de¬ 
nied to any male citizen twenty-one years of age, except for 
crime, the number of Representatives which the State shall 
have in Congress and the number of electoral votes which it 
shall have for President shall be reduced in the proportion 
which the number of male citizens thus denied the right to 
vote shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty- 
one years of age in the State.” It was thought that rather 
than run the risk of having the number of its Representatives 


122 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


in Congress reduced, and of losing some of its electoral votes 
for President, a State would always grant to every male citi¬ 
zen, except those convicted of crime, the right to vote. But 
this provision has never been enforced, for two reasons: (1) 
To enforce it would take away from the State the power to 
say that every voter must have a certain amount of educa¬ 
tion before he can vote. To provide that every man can 
vote might be to turn the State over to ignorant men who -do 
not have any intelligent understanding of our institutions. 
(2) It would be an almost impossible thing to determine 
how many men at any election have been denied the right to 
vote because they cannot read or for any other reason. It 
does not follow that because a man has not voted he was 
-denied the right to vote, for it is a well-known fact that in 
every State many citizens habitually abstain from going to 
the polls. So this part of the fourteenth amendment, it has 
been found, does not force the States to confer the right to 
vote upon colored citizens. In fact, Congress has never yet 
tried to enforce it. 

But the fourteenth amendment went very much further 
than this. It declared that: ‘‘No State shall make or en¬ 
force a law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities 
of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive 
any person of life, liberty or property without due process 
of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction equal 
protection of the laws.” It was once thought that this pro¬ 
vision gave Congress power to destroy the individuality of 
the States; that it so centralized power in the Union that the 
political independence of the States was wholly at the mercy 
of Congress. But the Supreme Court in numerous decisions 
has shown that such is not the fact. It does not give Con¬ 
gress power to regulate the conduct of private citizens. It 
does not give Congress authority to compel any citizen to 
receive other citizens on terms of social equality, nor does it 
deny to him the right to refuse to employ other citizens be- 


POWERS DENIED TO THE STATES. 


123 


cause of their color. It simply prohibits the State from 
doing certain things. A State acts through its legislature 
or its courts or its officers, and this amendment prohibits 
them from denying to its citizens the equal protection of its 
laws. Its laws must apply to all persons alike. The State, 
as such, cannot enact a law that specifically discriminates 
against one class of citizens. The Supreme Court has held 
that this part of this amendment simply means that no State, 
in enacting and enforcing its laws, can discriminate among 
its citizens because of their race or color; but that it does not 
prohibit the people of a State from so discriminating among 
themselves. 


Questions on Chapter XIV. 

1. What powers are denied to the States? (132) 

2. What might be the effect if both a State and the Union could 

make treaties? (132) 

3. What the effect, if both could fix tariff rates? (132) 

4. What does the Constitution say on this subject? (132) 

5. What other powers are denied to the States? (133) 

6. What might be the effect if a State could coin money? (133) 

7. What does the Constitution say of the State’s power to levy 

imposts? (133) 

8. What were the purposes of these inhibitions? (133) 

9. What does the Constitution say about impairment of contracts? 

(134) 

10. What do these words mean? (134) 

11. Is a State a nation? Why? (135) 

12. Can a State have an army or navy? (135) 

13. Can a State declare war? (135) 

14. Can a State enter into a treaty or compact with another State 

or foreign nation? (135) 

15. What do these words of the Constitution mean? (135) 

16. What things then are denied to the States? (135) 

17. What does the Constitution say as to slavery? (136) 

18. What would probably have been the effect had the Constitution 

contained such a provision? (136) 

19. What has been the effect of the abolition of slavery? (136) 


124 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


20. What did the fifteenth amendment say about the right to vote? 

(137) 

21. Why was it made? (137) 

22. Is an educational qualification for voting prohibited by it? (137) 

23. On what ground cannot a State withhold the right to vote? 

(137) 

24. Why was it supposed that each State would confer this right on 

all male citizens? (138) 

25. Why has not this amendment been enforced? (138) 

26. What further did that amendment provide? (138) 

27. What was it once feared that this provision did? (138) 

28. Was that a fact? (138) 

, 29. Does it guarantee social equality? (138) 

30. What does it do? (138) 

31. How does a State act? (138) 

32. How must a law apply? (138) 

33. Can a State discriminate against one class of citizens? (138) 

34. Can a private citizen do so? (138) 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE PRESIDENT. 

139. The Chief Executive.—We now turn for a few 
chapters from the legislative to the executive department of 
the Government. The Constitution says that “the execu¬ 
tive power shall be vested in the President of the United 
States of America.” 

Congress passes laws prescribing how certain affairs of 
the Government shall be conducted, and the officers who con¬ 
duct those affairs are executive officers. They execute what 
the law prescribes or the courts direct to be done. They are 
called executive officers for that reason. 

The chief executive officer is the President; in fact, all 
executive power is lodged in him, and all other executive of¬ 
ficers are simply his assistants or representatives. They are 
all appointed by him, or by the other officers who have them- 



THE PRESIDENT. 


125 


selves been appointed by him, are all under his control and 
subject to his direction, and while most of them are appointed 
for a term of four years, yet for improper conduct he may 
remove them at any time, and in some cases he may deter¬ 
mine their conduct to be improper without giving any reason 
therefor either to the officer or to the public. 

This applies to all higher executive officers and to all 
others, except officers of the army or navy, and except purely 
public service employees, such as postal clerks on railroads, 
letter carriers and certain department clerks, whose connec¬ 
tion with the Government is simply that of employment, and 
who, in late years, have been protected from being discharged 
from such service on th6 election of another President by a 
series of laws called Civil Service regulations. Such employ¬ 
ees can hold their places so long as they do their work well 
and behave themselves. 

But the conduct of many executive officers reflects the 
principles of the President. They should therefore be in har¬ 
mony with him, and unless they are he can remove them. 

Of all executive officers the President alone (and of 
course the Vice-President) is elected by the people; all others 
are appointed. It is not so in the States. In most of the 
States all the higher executive officers are elected. But no 
other executive officer of the United States except the Pres¬ 
ident can ever be elected so long as this clause of the Con¬ 
stitution remains unchanged—the clause that says “the ex¬ 
ecutive power shall be vested in the President.” If that 
power is vested in him he must have the right to say who shall 
act in his stead in executing it. He cannot perform all ex¬ 
ecutive duties; the work is too much for one man. He must 
have many assistants to act in his stead. It would be clearly 
unjust to hold him responsible and yet not give him power 
to say who those assistants shall be. All other executive 
officers are the President’s arm, and he must have an un¬ 
shackled arm, and that means that he must have the right 


126 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


to appoint other executive officers in harmony with himself, 
and remove them whenever he believes they are trying to 
discredit him or the public good demands their removal. 

But the President does not have ah unlimited power of 
appointment. All his important appointments must be ap¬ 
proved by the Senate. It can reject any of them at will. 
The Senate, therefore, always stands between him and the 
people, and if he should be indifferent to their rights it can 
check him. This is a wise provision. It not only enables 
him to test public sentiment; it forces him to be regardful of 
the people’s interests and wishes. 

It, on the other hand, subjects both President and Sena¬ 
tors to a political dicker. They agree to support certain 
bills which he wishes to become laws, and he in return agrees 
to appoint certain men to office whom they recommend. In 
that way the President may exercise great influence over 
legislation and the Senate have much to do with executive 
affairs. This is frequently a hurtful thing. Such political 
dickerings have more than once become national scandals, 
and violent political quarrels have grown out of the Presi¬ 
dent’s refusal to be dictated to by the Senate, or the Senate’s 
resentment of the President’s intermeddling with legislative 
matters. These jarrings between the President and Senators 
are not hurtful if both are animated with a supreme desire to 
promote the public good; but contentions or bargains that 
grow out of a desire solely to promote the interests of a polit¬ 
ical party or to advance the political fortunes of a Senator 
or of the President are not only hurtful, but often prostitute 
the purposes of the Government. 

It should never be forgotten in this country that all gov¬ 
ernment—whether National, or State, or county or city or 
school—is for the good of the people, and must be conducted 
solely for their good, and if those they elect to office will not 
use their offices in the people’s interest they should turn them 
out and elect others in their stead. At the same time the 


THE PRESIDENT. 


127 


people should be just, and when they get a faithful public 
servant they should be glad to honor him with their votes. 

140. Term of Office.—The President is elected for a 
term of four years, beginning on the fourth day of March 
next after the election. He may be then re-elected for an¬ 
other term. There is nothing in the Constitution which pro¬ 
hibits him from being elected again and again. But no 
President has ever served longer than two terms, nor has one 
ever been nominated for a third term by any party. 

141. His Qualifications.—He must be a natural-born 
citizen of the United States, at least thirty-five years old, and 
have been for fourteen years a resident within the United 
States. The qualifications of the Vice-President are the 
same. No foreign-born person can be President. 

142. Vacancy.—In case of the death or removal or 
resignation of the President, the office devolves on the Vice- 
President, who fills out the remainder of his term. If both 
should die, the vacancy is filled by the members of the Presi¬ 
dent’s Cabinet in the order of their rank, beginning with the 
Secretary of State. 

143. Salary.—The President’s salary can not be in¬ 
creased or diminished during the period for which he was 
elected. At the present time this salary is $75,000 per year, 
and besides this amount the appropriations made for fur¬ 
nishing and supporting the executive mansion amount to 
several thousands more, but the President can retain no part 
of such appropriations. 

144. Powers and Duties.—The President shall be (1) 
commander-in-chief of the army and navy. The army and 
navy ajre parts of the executive department of the Govern¬ 
ment, and therefore it is proper that the President should be 
their commander. 

(2) He shall have power, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds 


128 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


of the Senators present concur. The terms of a treaty are 
first agreed to by him. Then the Senate agrees to so much 
of it as it deems best, and then that part, if the oth6r nation 
concurs, becomes binding on both nations. If the Senate 
rejects the treaty that is the end of it. The President must 
then negotiate another or abandon the matter. The Senate 
cannot negotiate a treaty; it can only approve or reject or 
amend the treaty the President has negotiated. 

(3) He shall appoint ambassadors, ministers, consuls, 
judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the 
United States whose appointment is not otherwise provided 
for, but such appointments must be made by and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate; that is, they must be con¬ 
firmed by that body to be valid; and Congress, by law, may 
vest the appointment of inferior officers in the President 
alone, in the heads of departments, or in the courts. All ex¬ 
ecutive officers except those appointed in the recess of the 
Senate are commissioned for four years, but they hold over 
after the four-year period has expired until their successors 
are appointed and qualified, and by “qualified” is meant that 
the appointee has been commissioned by the President (that 
is, a certificate which is his title paper to the office has been 
signed and issued by the President), and has given whatever 
bond the law requires, and has taken an official oath, which 
is usually to support the Constitution and obey the laws and 
faithfully demean himself in office. But in many cases, a 
vacancy occurs whenever the President chooses to make it. 
If he appoints another man to the office, whether the four- 
year period has expired or not, the incumbent is thereby 
ousted. A vacancy may occur during the recess of Con¬ 
gress. In such case the President fills it by an appointment 
which extends to the end of the next session of Congress, if 
the Senate refuses to confirm it, but if it confirms it, it ex¬ 
tends, if the office is an executive one, to the end of the four- 
year period. If it refuses to confirm it, he may send in an- 


THE PRESIDENT. 


129 


Other name at once, or he may wait until its adjournment 
and then make another appointment, which will again ex¬ 
tend to the end of the next session, unless sooner rejected or 
confirmed. The Congress invests certain inferior officers 
with the appointment of their assistants, but even then the 
President may have something to say as to who those assist¬ 
ants are to be, for if they are not agreeable to him, he may 
remove the officer who selects them. 

(4) He shall, by message or otherwise, give to the 
Congress information of the State of the Union, and recom¬ 
mend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge 
necessary. Washington and Adams appeared before Con¬ 
gress and delivered their messages by a speech, to which 
Congress replied. But their opponents stigmatized this 
practice as ‘‘monarchal,” as being an attempt to follow the 
practice of the English king. Accordingly Jefferson, who did 
not have much patience with kingly customs, and who was 
withal a powerful writer, but a poor speaker, wrote out his 
messages and sent them by messenger to the Congress, and 
from his time on the succeeding Presidents have followed his 
example. 

(5) The President may, on extraordinary occasions, 
convene both houses, or either of them, in extra session, and 

(6) if they cannot agree upon a time of adjournment, he may 
adjourn them to such time as he may think proper, but not 
beyond the time of the beginning of the next regular session. 

(7) He shall receive ambassadors and other public min¬ 
isters from other nations. 

(8) He shall take care that the laws be faithfully exe¬ 
cuted, and (9) he shall commission all officers of the United 
States. 

The President’s duty to see that “the laws are faithfully 
executed” is his chief duty. The “executive power” is 
vested in him, and he is the Chief Executive. Whether the 


9 


130 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


laws prove efficient to correct the wrongs they were passed 
to remedy may depend on the firmness and justice with which 
he tries to execute them. He is not above law himself; 
he is as much bound to obey it as the humblest citizen. He 
is the servant of the people, in that he was chosen to see to 
it that their will, as expressed in their laws, is faithfully car¬ 
ried out. 

145. Veto Power.—But the President is something 
more than the Chief Executive. He also has much to do 
with legislation. If a bill passes Congress he can veto it, 
that is, refuse to sign it, and return it with his objections to 
the house in which it originated. That is the end of it unless 
two-thirds of the members of each house vote to pass it in 
spite of his disapproval. Thus he is in one sense a “third 
house.” It is very difficult to pass a bill which he has vetoed. 
It, therefore, becomes necessary always to take his attitude 
into account in considering the chances for enacting any 
important legislation. If he belong to one party, and the 
majority of each house to another, the chances are exceed¬ 
ingly slim that any bill will ever be passed over his veto; and 
if he and that majority belong to the same party, to pass a 
bill over his veto may mean a rupture in that party, and its 
consequent defeat at the next election. Nevertheless, the 
President’s veto has at times proved to be one of the most 
valuable features of the Constitution, for it may be used to 
block hurtful legislation, and to concentrate public attention 
on the proposed measure, and when that is done, his veto may 
rally the country to his support or have no more effect than 
to postpone for a short time a needed law. On the other 
hand, his veto vests him with an immense power to influence 
legislation and to “whip members of Congress into line.” To 
use his office in that way would be an abuse of his powers. 
The purpose of giving him the veto power was to enable him 
to block a headlong Congress or override its mistakes. It 
was never designed that he should be a legislator. Congress- 


THE PRESIDENT. 


131 


men are chosen as the people’s representatives to make laws, 
and the President’s primary duty is to see that those laws 
are executed, but it is also his duty to block the purposes of 
a corrupt or mean Congress. 

Where either President or Congressmen use the powers 
vested in them to defeat the meaning of the Constitution or 
the true purposes of government, either may hold the other 
in check until the people themselves afford a remedy by de¬ 
feating the one or the other for re-election. After all, the 
remedy for abuses in government is with the people, who 
must be ever alert to choose men of the right character. 

146. Powers and Duties of Vice-President.—The 

Vice-President has very few duties. He presides over the 
Senate, but does not appoint its committees, which are ap¬ 
pointed by the Senate itself in its own way. He takes no 
part in debate, and cannot vote except when the Senators are 
equally divided on a bill or proposition, when he has a “cast¬ 
ing vote” to decide the matter. The office is of small im¬ 
portance except when a vacancy occurs in the office of Presi¬ 
dent. Then it becomes all-important, for he immediately 
becomes President. If he does that or dies or resigns, no 
provision is made for filling the vacancy in the office of Vice- 
President until the next election. The Vice-President’s sal¬ 
ary is $12,000 per year. 

147. How Elected.—The people do not vote directly 
for the President and Vice-President. They are elected by 
electors chosen by the people of the respective States, each 
State being entitled to as many electors as it has Senators 
and Representatives in Congress. 

These electors must be chosen in all the States on the 
same day, but in each State they are to be chosen “in such 
manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” and formerly 
they were chosen in at least half the States by the legislatures 
themselves, and they were chosen in that way in South Caro- 


132 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


lina until recent years; but now in every State they are chosen 
by the vote of the people, on the first Tuesday after the first 
Monday of November in each leap year and each centennial 
year. 

The Governor makes out four lists of the persons who 
have been chosen electors in his State, and sends one to the 
Secretary of State at Washington, and delivers the other 
three to the electors, who meet somewhere within the State 
on the second Monday of January after their election and 
vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, and make 
three lists of all persons voted for for President, and three 
separate lists of all persons voted for for Vice-President, and 
of the number of votes for each. They then attach the Gov¬ 
ernor’s list of their names to each pair of their lists, and de¬ 
posit one pair with the judge of the United States court in 
whose district they meet, and transmit another by mail, and 
send the third by special messenger, forthwith, to the presi¬ 
dent of the Senate at Washington, which officer on the second 
Wednesday in February, in the presence of the Senate and 
House, opens the lists and causes the votes to be counted, 
and the person who has received the greatest number of all 
the votes for President shall be President, if such number is a 
majority of all the electors chosen by all the States. 

If no person have such majority, the election of a Presi¬ 
dent then devolves on the House of Representatives, the vote 
there being taken by States, each being entitled to one vote, 
and the person who receives the vote of a majority of the 
States is declared elected President, and if no person receives 
such majority by the fourth of March, the Vice-President 
shall act as President just “as in case of the death of the 
President.” When the election devolves upon the House 
its choice must be made from the persons, not exceeding 
three, who received the highest number of electoral votes. 
Twice since the formation of the Union the President has 
been elected by the House of Representatives. The first 


THE PRESIDENT. 


133 


time was in 1801, when Thomas Jefferson was elected, and 
the next was 1825, when John Quincy Adarns was chosen by 
that body. 

If no person receive a majority of the electoral votes 
cast for Vice-President, the election devolves on the Senate, 
which makes choice from the two men who have received the 
highest number of votes, and the person receiving the vote of 
a majority of all the Senators shall be Vice-President. 

This method of electing the President is prescribed in 
Amendment XII, which was declared ratified September 25, 
1804. It was adopted because of the unsatisfactory method 
prescribed by the original Constitution. By that method, 
each Presidential elector voted for two candidates for Presi¬ 
dent on the same ballot, and the one who obtained the high¬ 
est number of votes, if that were a majority, was to be Pres¬ 
ident, and the person obtaining the next greatest number of 
votes was to be Vice-President, whether such number were a 
majority of the electoral vote or not. In 1789, John Adams 
received 34 votes when the total number of electors was 73, 
yet according to the Constitution, as it was then, he was 
elected Vice-President. In 1800 Thomas Jefferson and Aaron 
Burr each received 73 votes. It was well understood by the 
electors themselves, and by the people who had chosen them, 
that Mr. Jefferson was the candidate for President, and Mr. 
Burr the candidate for Vice-President. But the electors 
had no power, under the Constitution as it then was, to vote 
for one for President and for the other for Vice-President. 
The 73 electors, which had been chosen by the party to which 
they belonged, therefore, cast one vote each for each of them, 
and hence neither had a majority. When the Constitution 
was first framed it was supposed that the electors would ex¬ 
ercise some discretion in casting their votes for President; 
that they would not be the mere mouthpiece of a party, but 
would cast their votes for that man who they believed was 
the choice of the people. They were supposed to look about 


134 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


and determine who that man was. It was not conceived that 
two men could be of equal favor with the people, and hence 
it was supposed that one would always get more votes than 
the other, and it was intended by the Constitution that the 
one who got the votes of the greatest number of electors, if 
they were a majority, would be the President, and the one 
who got the next highest number, whether a majority or not, 
would be Vice-President. But by 1800 parties had formed, 
with rigid lines. Each put forward its candidates for Presi¬ 
dent and Vice-President, but only one set of electors could be 
chosen for each State, and when those electors came together 
they could not vote for one candidate for President and an¬ 
other for Vice-President. All they could do was to vote for 
two candidates for President. Thus it came about that 
Jefferson and Burr each got the same number of votes—each 
got all the electoral votes of the party which had triumphed 
at the polls. The election, therefore, devolved upon the 
House of Representatives which chose Jefferson, but never¬ 
theless, the country had been violently disturbed by intrigues 
which formed between Burr and the enemies of Jefferson to 
wrest the Presidency from him. It was foreseen that such 
results might follow every election so long as parties lasted. 
For that reason the Constitution was changed, so as to permit 
each elector to cast one vote for President and one for Vice- 
President. 

148. Presidential Electors.—By the practice of par¬ 
ties, but not because the law so says, for parties are purely 
voluntary organizations, each party chooses delegates from 
the various Congressional districts, usually two from each, 
and four from each State at large; that is, each State has 
twice as many as it has Senators and Representatives in 
Congress. These delegates meet in national convention and 
nominate, for the party by which they have been chosen, one 
candidate for President and another for Vice-President. Then 
a State convention of the party is held, and one Presidential 


THE PRESIDENT. 


135 


elector for each Congressional district and two from the State 
at large are named, and at the election in the succeeding No¬ 
vember those voters who desire the election of the candidate 
of that party for President vote for this set of electors, and if 
they receive more votes than any other set all of them are 
expected to vote for that candidate. Of course, if he should 
die before they meet on the second Monday in January to 
cast their votes, they would vote for some other man, but 
otherwise they would be considered guilty of the grossest 
perfidy if they did that. There is no written law that com¬ 
pels them to vote for the candidate of the party by which 
they were selected, yet so thoroughly understood has it be¬ 
come that they will do so that it is now known almost before 
midnight following election day who will be the next President. 

When electors are chosen in this way, each voter votes 
for as many as the State is entitled to, and if one set carries 
the State by ever so small a plurality their party’s candidate 
for President gets the votes of all of them. But they are not 
always chosen in this way. They are to be chosen in each 
State as the Legislature directs. In Michigan a few years 
ago the Legislature directed that one elector should be chosen 
by the people of each Congressional district, and two from 
the State at large. In this way, in 1892, Mr. Cleveland got 
five electoral votes from that State, and General Harrison 
the rest. 

The Constitution provides that the electors shall meet 
in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and 
Vice-President, ‘‘one of whom at least shall not be an inhabit¬ 
ant of the same State with themselves.” Therefore, in or¬ 
der that all electors may vote for both candidates of their 
party, those candidates are always taken from different 
States, and hence it is a fact that the President and Vice- 
President are never residents of the same State. 

149. Qualification of Electors.—No Senator or Rep¬ 
resentative can be a Presidential elector, nor can any person 


136 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


who holds “any office of profit or trust under the United 
States.” This bars postmasters and all United States officers. 
But it does not disqualify State officers, but in some of the 
States they are disqualified by State laws. 

150. Electoral Vacancies and Contests.—If an elec¬ 
tor between the time of his election and the meeting of the 
electors on the second Monday in January should die or fail 
to attend, those electors present at the meeting choose some 
one to fill the vacancy. This is the law of nearly every State, 
and no embarrassment is likely to come from that plan. But 
sometimes it is doubtful which set of electors has carried a 
State. In that case, the legislature or courts of the State 
may decide which set has been legally elected, and that de¬ 
cision is final if it is made six days before the second Monday 
in January. If not made before that time, the Congress may 
decide which set was legally elected at the polls, but where 
there has been no decision by the legislature or the courts, 
both houses must concur before a set which the Governor has 
certified is elected can be rejected. 


Questions on Chapter XV. 

1. Where is the executive power vested? (139) 

2. What is an executive officer? (139) 

3. In whom is the executive power lodged? (139) 

4. What are other executive officers? (139) 

5. Can they be removed by the President? (139) 

6. To what officers does this apply? (139) 

7. What executive officers are elected? (139) 

8. What appointed? (139) 

9. Is that so in the States? (139) 

10. Can Congress provide that other executive officers be elected? 
(139) 

11. How is the President’s power of appointment limited? (139) 

12. What is said of this provision? (139) 

13. What is all government for? (139)' 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 


137 


14. For what term is the President elected? (140) 

15. Is he eligible to re-election? (140) 

16. What must be his qualifications? (141) 

17. How is a vacancy in the Presidency filled? (142) 

18. Can his salary be increased? (143) 

19. What is it? (143) 

20. Discuss the powers of the President. (144) 

21. Discuss the President’s veto power. (145) 

22. What are the duties of the Vice-President? (146) 

23. How are they elected? (147) 

24. How are Presidential electors chosen? (147) 

25. Describe the meeting of electors, their duties, and the counting 

of their votes. (147) 

26. If no person receives the votes of a majority of the electors for 

President, how is he chosen? (147) 

27. If no person receives the vote of a majority of electors for Vice- 
President, how is he chosen? (147) 

28. Why was amendment twelve adopted? (147) 

29. Describe the manner in which Presidential electors are chosen. 

(148) 

30. Are they compelled to vote for the candidate of their party? 

(148) 

31. How many electors does each voter vote for? (148) 

32. Are they always chosen in this way? (148) ^ 

33. Why are the President and Vice-President never residents of 

the same State? (148) 

34. What persons cannot be electors? (149) 

35. How are electoral vacancies filled? (150) 

36. How are contests settled? (150) 


CHAPTER XVI. 

THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 

151. The Cabinet.—The executive business of the 
Government has been arranged under nine general divisions, 
called executive departments. The work of each department 
is superintended by one chief officer, selected by the Presi¬ 
dent. The heads of these departments, in the order of their 



138 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


rank, are the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, 
Secretary of War, Attorney-General, Postmaster-General, 
Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of 
Agriculture and Secretary of Commerce and Labor. These 
officers together constitute what is called the President’s 
Cabinet. They are his immediate assistants and closest 
advisers. At stated times they meet him in conference and 
discuss the affairs of the nation. No record of the proceed¬ 
ings is kept, and for this reason and other intimate relations, 
the Cabinet is sometimes called the ‘'President’s official 
family.” Of course, the President exercises a general super¬ 
vision over all the departments, and his orders must be 
obeyed by each Cabinet officer. 

They are not designated the “Cabinet” in the Consti¬ 
tution. In fact, the word “Cabinet” nowhere appears there¬ 
in, but the words “heads of departments” do, and as the 
“heads of departments” in England have long been styled 
the Cabinet, our “heads of departments” are also called the 
Cabinet after the English usage, but they differ very widely 
from the Cabinet in England. They do not attend the meet¬ 
ings of Congress, and propose legislation, as in England. 
They are often invited to attend the meetings of committees 
and give information on the affairs of the Government, and 
the needs of their departments, and once a year they publish 
extensive reports showing the work and expenses of those 
departments in detail. But beyond this they have nothing 
to do with shaping legislation. 

A Cabinet officer receives a salary of $12,000 a year. 

152. Department of State.—The Secretary of State 
is the head of this department, and he is the only officer who 
is authorized to communicate with other governments in the 
name of the President. To him belongs the duty of direct¬ 
ing the work of ambassadors, ministers, consuls, and other 
diplomatic officers and agents stationed in other nations to 
look after the affairs of this nation there. They receive in- 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 


139 


structions from him and whatever communication they may 
make to their home Government is usually made through 
him. Negotiations for treaties are carried on through this 
department. It is sometimes called ‘'the office of foreign 
affairs,” for all matters pertaining to our relations with other 
nations are conducted through it. 

Ambassadors are the highest diplomatic officers. They 
represent this Government at the capitals of the principal 
nations, like England and France, and aid in negotiating 
treaties, and inform those governments of the objections the 
President may have to any action they may be about to 
take which would affect our rights in a foreign country. Min¬ 
isters perform the same duties at the capitals of lesser nations, 
such as Mexico and Spain. Consuls are not diplomatic 
officers at all, but their duties are to aid in facilitating our 
trade with foreign countries, to look after the comforts and 
rights of citizens who go abroad on business or pleasure, to 
administer on their estates in case of their death, and to ex¬ 
ercise a protective care over seamen, and in some non-Chris¬ 
tian countries, such as China and Japan, they take jurisdic¬ 
tion over criminal cases in which Americans are concerned. 

153. The Treasury Department.—This department 
is second in rank, but usually first in importance. The Sec¬ 
retary of the Treasury superintends the collection and dis¬ 
bursements of public funds, exercises a watchful control over 
national banks, and has charge of all moneys belonging to 
the United States. The payment of the Government bonds 
and other debts is made through his office. He more than 
any other officer must watch the effect of the volume of 
money and of the use of the different kinds of money on the 
business of the country. The business of the Government 
is brought closer to the people through this department than 
any other. The Secretary of the Treasury is assisted by 
auditors, comptrollers, treasurers, collectors of ports, internal 
revenue collectors and thousands of minor officers. In New 


140 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


York, New Orleans, St. Louis and several other large cities 
are branches of the Treasury, called sub-treasuries, which 
have been established that the public moneys may be more 
readily received and that one kind of money may be quickly 
exchanged for another, for instance, gold for greenbacks, or 
silver certificates for silver dollars. Connected with this de¬ 
partment are also the five Government mints at Philadelphia, 
San Francisco, New Orleans, Denver and Carson, which coin 
gold and silver and minor coins as directed by Congress. 

No man directly interested in trade or commerce can be 
appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and the office has 
almost always been filled by ‘‘men of small incomes bred 
either to politics or the legal profession.” Yet no depart¬ 
ment of the Government has been more faithfully adminis¬ 
tered. 

/ 

154. The War Department. —The Secretary of War 
superintends the military affairs of the United States and 
their islands. He has the care of providing, by using money 
furnished by Congress, for the support, clothing, guns, am¬ 
munition and other stores supplied for the army and militia, 
and has control of the construction of forts, arsenals and 
magazines. The army has been fully described in section 
110, and the militia in section 116. Connected with this 
department and so closely joined to the work of the army as 
almost to be a part of it is another sub-department called 
the engineer department, which has charge of river and har¬ 
bor improvements. 

155. The Department of Justice. —The Attorney- 
General is the head of this department. He is the legal ad¬ 
viser of all other departments. He appears in the Supreme 
Court in all cases in which the interests of the United States 
are directly involved, and in every district court throughout 
the country there is a district attorney and assistant attorneys 
to represent the Government in prosecuting violators of the 
laws of Congress. 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 


141 


156. The Post Office Department.—More officers 
and employees of the Government belong to this department 
than to any other, possibly as many as to all others combined, 
including soldiers and officers in the army and navy in times 
of peace, for nearly two hundred thousand persons are con¬ 
nected with the postal system. The department has no 
other business except to receive, collect, carry and deliver 
the mails, but so extensive is the amount of that work that 
elsewhere a whole chapter is given to it (Chapter XI). 

157. The Navy Department.—In addition to what 
has been said in section 113, little need be said of this depart¬ 
ment. The navy consists of warships, docks and navy yards, 
and the officers and men in the navy service. These vessels 
are sent into any part of the world where an American citizen 
or American trade may need protection, or American rights 
may be impaired. The Secretary of the Navy superintends 
the work to be done by the navy, and also superintends the 
construction of new vessels and the purchase of guns, torpe¬ 
does and other articles of equipment. 

The officers of the army and navy receive large salaries, 
that of a major-general or rear-admiral being $8,000 a year, 
and the pay of a cadet during the time he is a student at the 
military or naval academy is $600 a year. Officers who have 
had forty years’ service may, if they wish, retire, and those 
who reach sixty-four years of age must retire, and thereafter 
they receive three-fourths of the pay of officers of their rank. 
Privates who have served thirty years in the army or navy 
or both, can retire on three-fourths pay. 

158. The Department of the Interior.—This depart¬ 
ment was not organized until 1849. The work of issuing 
patents to inventors, of surveying and selling the public 
lands, of granting and paying pensions, belongs to the Interior 
Department. Besides, there belongs to it the work of estab¬ 
lishing Indian agencies and supplying Indians with such 


142 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


money, clothing, food and education as Congress grants these 
‘Vards of the nation.” In addition, there is a bureau of 
education, whose work consists chiefly of gathering statistics 
concerning all kinds of schools, and collecting and publishing 
under proper heads educational information. 

The irrigation or reclamation of arid lands is, also, a 
part of the work of this department. In 1902 the policy of 
the government in reference to public lands was changed. 
Prior to that time the net proceeds derived from all lands 
sold to settlers was turned into the Treasury, and disposed 
of as revenue. But in 1902 Congress provided that ninety- 
five per cent of the net proceeds thereafter derived from the 
sale of “public lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, 
Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North 
Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washing¬ 
ton and Wyoming should be used in constructing ditches 
and reservoirs for the irrigation or watering of the arid and 
semi-arid lands” lying in those States and Territories. These 
lands are very rich if they can be properly watered. The 
purpose of this irrigation scheme is to collect the waters which 
come from snow or rain in the mountains, and instead of per¬ 
mitting them to run off to the sea through the long rivers, to 
turn them through these ditches across the plains, and dis¬ 
tribute them at the proper times over these dry lands. No 
one can foretell the amount of the things that go to feed and 
clothe men which may be produced from these heretofore 
barren lands as the result of this comprehensive scheme to 
make them productive. 

A Pension is a sum of money awarded to a soldier or 
sailor or his family, for past service in a war. Pensions are 
of two kinds: service pensions, and invalid or disability pen¬ 
sions. A service pension is an allowance of so much per 
month to all soldiers who served in a certain war whether 
they were or are disabled by disease or not, or are dependent 
or poor or not. An invalid pension is a certain allowance 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 


143 


to soldiers who are disabled by wounds or sickness in the war, 
or have since become disabled by disease or any other cause. 
Prior to 1890 pensions were granted to soldiers of the Civil 
War, and their widows and minor children, only on account 
of disability or death due to service in the war. But now 
“all persons who served ninety days or more” on the side of 
the Union “in the military or naval service, and who were 
honorably discharged therefrom, and who are now or who 
may hereafter be suffering from any mental or physical dis¬ 
ability of a permanent character which so incapacitates them 
from the performance of manual labor as to render them 

Pensions of the Several Wars. —The Commissioner of Pensions, in his 
annual report of 1911, says: “The amounts that have been paid for pensions 
to soldiers, sailors and marines, their widows, minor children and dependent 
relatives on account of military and naval service, since the foundation of the 


Government, are as follows: 

War of the Revolution (estimate). $70,000,000.00 

War of 1812 (service pension). . . .*. 45,853,024.19 

Indian wars (service pension). 11,192,205.52 

War with Mexico (service pension). 45,279,686.83 

Civil war. 3,985,719,836.93 

War with Spain and insurrection in Philippines. 34,142,976.37 

Regular establishment. 21,705,852.33 

Unclassified. 16,488,147.99 


Total disbursements for pensions to June 30, 1911. .$4,230,381,730.16 

unable to earn a support, are placed upon the list of invalid 
pensioners, and are entitled to receive a pension not exceed¬ 
ing $12 per month and not less than $6 per month, propor¬ 
tioned to the degree of disability to earn a support.” If 
such pensioner die leaving a widow without means of support 
other than her daily labor, she receives $12 per month during 
her widowhood and $2 per month for each child of the sol¬ 
dier under sixteen years of age. 

Soldiers and sailors so disabled from wounds received or 
disabilities incurred in the actual service of war as to be in¬ 
capacitated from performing any manual labor, but not to 
such an extent as to require personal attendance, receive a 
pension of $30 per month; if disabled to such a degree as to 













144 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


require frequent, though not constant, personal attendance, 
they receive $50 per month; and if so totally and permanently 
helpless as to require the constant personal attendance of 
another person, they receive $72 per month. And soldiers 
or sailors disabled by reason of wounds received or disabil¬ 
ities incurred in the late war with Spain are entitled to the 
same-size pensions granted to those of the Civil War, as are 
also officers or privates in the militia when in the actual 
service of the United States. 

Any soldier, whether sick or well, who served ninety 
days in the Civil War or sixty days in the war with Mexico, 
if now sixty-two years of age, receives a pension of twelve 
dollars per month; if seventy years of age, fifteen dollars; and 
if seventy-five years of age or over, twenty dollars. 

If the pensioner was an officer he receives a higher pen¬ 
sion than does a private, the amount depending somewhat 
upon his rank. 

More than four billion dollars have been paid out for 
pensions by the Government since the formation of the 
Union, and about one hundred and fifty million dollars are 
yet being paid out each year. Thus we see how expensive, 
in money alone, is war, and how that expense is continued 
long after the war is over. 

159. Department of Agriculture.—This department 
is of recent creation. Formerly it was a bureau of the In¬ 
terior Department. It was raised to the rank of an executive 
department in 1889, when Norman J. Colman of Missouri 
was made the first Secretary of Agriculture. It collects and 
disseminates useful knowledge relating to the state of the 
crops, and to agriculture in general. It conducts experi¬ 
ments and distributes among the people such plants and 
seeds of garden and farm products as these experiments show 
are best adapted to the soil and will be of the greatest use¬ 
fulness to mankind. It also endeavors to discover effective 
and inexpensive cures for infectious diseases among cattle. 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 


145 


sheep and hogs, and useful methods for exterminating pests 
to cotton, grapes, apples and other plant life. Connected 
with it is the pure-food department, called the Bureau of 
Chemistry, whose business it is to ascertain if any article of 
food or drugs has been adulterated or misbranded and is 
being shipped from one State to another or to a foreign coun¬ 
try, and if so, to cause the shipper and dealer to be pros¬ 
ecuted—the purpose being to put a stop to the adulteration 
of foods and drugs produced in one State and sold in another, 
and to so labeling either as to deceive consumers. 

160. The Department of Commerce and Labor was 
created in 1903, ‘To foster, promote and develop the foreign 
and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping 
and fishery industries, the labor interests and the transporta¬ 
tion facilities of the United States.” It has a bureau of navi¬ 
gation, another of coast and geodetic survey, and there is a 
commissioner of immigration, and another of statistics, and 
it also has charge of the census. There is another bureau 
of manufacturing ”to foster, promote and develop the various 
manufacturing industries of the United States, and markets 
for the same at home and abroad, by gathering, compiling 
and publishing useful information concerning such industries 
and such markets, and concerning corporations engaged in 
commerce among the States and foreign countries, and to 
gather such information as will enable the President to rec¬ 
ommend to Congress proper legislation for regulating such 
corporations in the interest of the whole people.” It is desigded 
to be the department of general publicity of the business 
affairs of the country. 

Questions on Chapter XVI. 

1. How is the executive business of the government divided? (151) 

2. Name the heads of these departments. (151) 

3. How are they all designated? (151) 

4. What relation do they sustain to him? (151) 

10 


146 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


5. Are they called the “Cabinet” in the Constitution? (151) 

6. Why are they so called? (151) 

7. Do they have any legislative powers as in England? (151) 

8. What are the principal duties of the Secretary of State? (152) 

9. Discuss ambassadors, ministers and consuls. (152) 

10. What are some of the duties of Secretary of Treasury? (153) 

11. How is he assisted? (153) 

12. Who may not be Secretary of Treasury, and what is said of the 
character of the men who have filled the office? (153) 

13. What are the duties of the Secretary of War? (154) 

14. What is said of the Department of Justice? (155) 

15. Of the Post Office Department? (156) 

'16. Of the Navy Department? (157) 

17. Of the salaries and retirement of army and navy officers? (157) 

18. What is said of the Department of the Interior? • (158) 

19. What is said about irrigation? (158) 

20. Read carefully and discuss what is said on the subject of pen¬ 
sions. (158) 

21. What is said of the Department of Agriculture? (159) 

22. Read what is said of the Department of Commerce and Labor. 
(160) 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

161'. Necessity For. —By the judicial department of 
the Government we mean its courts. Courts had existed in 
the colonies long before the adoption of the Constitution. 
But before that there had been no United States courts. 
There had really been no Union prior to the adoption of the 
Articles of Confederation, and one great weakness of the 
Government under those articles had been a lack of courts 
of its own to determine disputes in which the laws of Con¬ 
gress were involved. They left to the State courts the duty 
of enforcing those laws, and the result was a lack of harmony 
as to how far Congress had a right to extend them. Those 
courts in one State would decide that those laws were bind¬ 
ing on the State or its people, and those of another State 



THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 


147 


would decide to the contrary. Hence, the laws of Congress 
became of little force. There was no one court in which final 
authority was lodged. The framers of the Constitution, 
therefore, wisely determined that the Union needed courts 
of its own to interpret and enforce its laws, and to settle dis¬ 
putes between two or more States, or between citizens of dif¬ 
ferent States. The creation of United States courts by the 
Constitution did as much to make the Union a real govern¬ 
ment as any other of its provisions. Under the Articles of 
Confederation the Government really had only one depart¬ 
ment, the legislative, but the Constitution added a President 
and the courts, and it thereby made the United States gov¬ 
ernment correspond in its main features to the State govern¬ 
ments already existing. 

No government can be dependent on another for the en¬ 
forcement of its authority. Wherever the rights of any man 
under the laws of Congress are involved, the Government 
should have its own courts to determine the extent of its 
authority in the matter. Besides, controversies are sure to 
arise between citizens of different States, and possibly be¬ 
tween States themselves, and in order that harmony may 
prevail in the whole Union, it is necessary that there should 
be courts of the general government authorized to settle 
those controversies. Thus we see the necessity for United 
States courts. 

Courts are a necessary part of republican government. 
Without them the American people would not have the lib¬ 
erty they now enjoy, nor be so civilized and peaceable in the 
enforcement of law and order. Upon the United States 
courts is devolved the duty of applying the laws of Congress 
in individual cases. Congress passes laws, but it cannot en¬ 
force them. The duty of saying to what particular individ¬ 
uals those laws apply and just how far they shall be enforced 
belongs to the courts, and a court is necessary in order that 
before they are applied against any person he may have a 


148 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


full hearing before an impartial tribunal, and that means an 
impartial judge and an impartial jury of his fellow-citizens. 

162. Where Vested. —The Constitution says that “the 
judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one 
Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress 
may from time to time ordain and establish.” The Supreme 
Court consists of a Chief Justice and eight associate justices, 
and this number may be increased by Congress. All its ses¬ 
sions are held in Washington. Its jurisdiction is almost en¬ 
tirely appellate; that is, causes are not begun in it, but in an 
inferior court and taken to it by appeal. Habeas corpus 
cases, however, may originate in this court, as may, also, 
cases affecting ambassadors or ministers and those to which 
a State is a party. 

The inferior courts are five, and all were established 
by Congress. They are District Courts, Courts of Appeals, 
the Court of Customs Appeals, the Commerce Court and the 
Court of Claims. All these are different from the courts 
created by the State. They are sometimes called “Federal 
courts,” while the others are designated as “State courts.” 

1. The district courts are the trial courts of the Gov¬ 
ernment. It is in them that nearly all suits are brought and 
tried. Each State constitutes one or more districts, and there 
is one district judge for each district, and in a few of the dis¬ 
tricts more than one. Each district is divided into one or 
more divisions, and sessions of the court are held in one or 
more of the principal towns in the division. For instance, 
in Missouri there are the Eastern District and the Western 
District; and in the Eastern District there are three divisions 
(the eastern, northern and southern), and court is held in the 
eastern division at St. Louis and Rolla, in the northern divi¬ 
sion at Hannibal, and in the southern division at Cape Gi¬ 
rardeau; and in the Western District there are five divisions, 
and court is held in the western division thereof at Kansas 
City and Chillicothe, in the southwestern division at Joplin, 


THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 


149 


in the St. Joseph division at St. Joseph, in the central divi¬ 
sion at Jefferson City, and in the southern division at Spring- 
field. Usually two terms are held at each of these towns 
each year, and the division embraces the counties closest 
about the towns. At each place of holding court there is a 
marshal or deputy marshal, and a clerk or deputy clerk, and 
a grand jury to indict violators of the United States laws, 
and a carefully selected petit jury before whom are tried both 
criminal and civil cases. These district courts try persons 
charged with violating the criminal laws passed by Congress, 
suits to enforce the collection of the internal revenue, cases 
arising under the postal laws or on the high seas or involving 
copyrights or patents, bankruptcy cases, and suits between 
citizens of different States where the amount involved is 
more than three thousand dollars. 

2. The whole country is divided into nine circuits, 
hence one circuit will embrace several States; thus, the 
Eighth Circuit embraces Missouri and twelve other States. 
In each circuit there is a Circuit Court of Appeals, com¬ 
posed of three judges, and in each circuit there are three or 
more circuit judges, and three of these, or two of them and 
one of the justices of the Supreme Court, or two of them and 
a district judge, constitute the court of appeals of that cir¬ 
cuit. They hold court at three or four of the principal 
cities in the circuit; for instance, in the Eighth Circuit ses¬ 
sions are held at St. Louis, St. Paul and Denver or Cheyenne. 
They are not trial courts. They have no juries. They hear 
no witnesses. They are appellate courts for the review of 
cases tried in the district courts and appealed to them. When 
a case is appealed to one of them, copies of the evidence, 
pleadings and other record matters are sent to it and it re¬ 
views these and determines whether or not the case was 
properly tried. Not all cases appealed from the district 
courts go to them. Suits appealed from the Supreme Court 
of a State, and suits involving a construction of the Consti- 


150 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


tution of the United States and a few others go directly to 
the Supreme Court; but most cases are appealable only to 
the court of appeals, and usually its decision is final. 

3. The Court of Customs Appeals, composed of 
five judges, sits at Washington and may sit in any part of the 
country. The tariff laws of the United States are compli¬ 
cated and often difficult to understand. All goods are by 
them divided into classes, and the amount of tariff tax an 
imported article must pay depends on the class to which it 
is assigned. There are appraisers to classify imports and to 
fix their value, and designate the tariff taxes they must pay. 
If any importer is dissatisfied with the appraisers’ classifica¬ 
tion of his goods, he can appeal to this court, and its decision 
is final. Its only duty is to try cases involving the tariff 
laws, and to review, on appeal, the classification of imported 
goods as made by the appraisers, and determine the amount 
of tariff taxes they must pay. 

4. The Court of Commerce, consisting of five cir¬ 
cuit judges, chosen from different circuits, holds its sessions 
in Washington, but its powers may be exercised anywhere 
in the United States. Its business is to enforce or stop the 
enforcement of the orders of the Interstate Commerce Com¬ 
mission, which is given power to fix the rates railroads may 
charge for carrying freight from one State to another, and 
to prevent discriminations against shippers. It reviews the 
orders of that commission and decides whether or not they are 
lawful or just. But the decisions of this court are not always 
final. The law provides for an appeal to the Supreme Court, 
whose decisions are final. 

5. The Court of Claims, composed of five judges^ 
sits in Washington to pass upon claims against the United 
States. The Government cannot be sued, but it frequently 
happens that it becomes indebted to some one who has ren¬ 
dered it service, or to one whose property it has bought or 


THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 


151 


appropriated or damaged. This court investigates such 
claims, and if it finds them just it so reports to Congress, 
which usually, but not always, makes an appropriation of 
money to pay them. But the Congress has the power to 
refuse such payment, and neither the President nor any court 
can compel Congress or any officer to pay any claim against 
the Government. 

163. Checks on Congress.—The Supreme Court is a 
constant check on Congress. That body may pass a law 
which this court may nullify by declaring it to be in conflict 
with the Constitution, and if the President or any United 
States judge after that persists in enforcing it Congress may 
impeach him for doing so. The Constitution does not say 
that the Supreme Court shall have power to declare a law 
unconstitutional. Its authority to do that is primarily found 
in the oath of its judges. The Constitution binds the judges 
of that Court (and all other public officers) ‘‘by an oath or 
affirmation to support this Constitution.” Their plain duty 
then, when a law comes before them to be enforced, is to 
determine whether or not it is constitutional, and if they de¬ 
clare it is not, that is the end of it. The laws of Congress for 
a long time have directed the attention of this court to the 
duty of determining the constitutionality of a law of Con¬ 
gress or of any particular State, and for an equally long time 
all the people have assumed that that duty most appropri¬ 
ately belongs to that highest judicial body. Hence, it may 
be truthfully said that it is the especial duty of this court to 
guard the Constitution, and that whenever it fails to nullify 
any law that conflicts with the true meaning and purpose of 
the Constitution that instrument will to that extent be of no 
value to the people. 

164. Tenure of Office.—Judges of all Federal courts 
are appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate. If the Senate refuse to confirm the 


152 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


President’s appointment, he makes another selection. If 
the Senate approves his appointment, the judge holds office 
“during good behavior;” that is, he holds office for life, un¬ 
less he voluntarily retires or is removed. For corruption or 
oppression in office he may be impeached by Congress and 
removed; and for private crimes he may be tried as any other 
citizen. But aside from these exceptions, he may hold office 
during life. If he desires, at the age of seventy years he can 
retire, if he has served ten years, and his salary will continue 
until his death. It was supposed that if such a provision 
were made for these judges they would be independent and 
free to do right without fear or favor. 

165. Salaries.—And the same idea led to the provision 
that the salary of no judge shall be diminished while he re¬ 
mains in office. His salary may be increased, but it cannot 
be made less than it was at the time of his appointment. 
Thus the salary of the Chief Justice in 1789 was made $4,000; 
in 1873, $10,500, and in 1911, $15,000. His salary has never 
been reduced. Each of the other justices of the Supreme 
Court receives $14,500 per year; a circuit judge, $7,000; a 
district judge, $6,000. And in some cases the necessary 
traveling expenses incurred by them in attending court is 
paid by the Government. 

166. Jurisdiction of What Causes.—Usually the 
Federal courts have nothing to do with disputes between cit¬ 
izens of the same State, nor with punishing the violations of 
the laws of any particular State. Before they can interfere 
in controversies wholly within a State it must be made to 
appear that some of the parties have been denied some right 
guaranteed by the Constitution or laws of the United States. 
Federal courts concern themselves almost entirely with dis¬ 
putes between States, and disputes between citizens of dif¬ 
ferent States. They also settle controversies at sea between 
ship companies, passengers and shippers, and the rights of 


THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 


153 


aliens and citizens under treaties. And they of course settle 
disputes which arise over commerce among the States. 

167. Trial By Jury.—The Constitution says that “the 
trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachments, shall be 
by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the 
said crimes shall have been committed.” And by the sev¬ 
enth amendment it is provided that in suits at common law 
for money or property, where the value of the thing sued 
for “shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury 
shall be preserved.” Thus, trial by jury in suits on con¬ 
tracts and for damages, and in criminal cases, is a part of the 
fundamental law. But trial by jury was no new thing; it had 
existed in this country long before the Constitution was 
adopted, in fact, from the time of the first settlements,, and 
in England long before that. 

168. In Criminal Cases.—The Constitution not only 
says that “the trial of all crimes . . . shall be by jury,” but 
also that “such trial shall be held in the State where such 
crimes shall have been committed,” £tnd the sixth amend¬ 
ment went further and said that “the accused shall enjoy the 
right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the 
State or district wherein the crime shall have been com¬ 
mitted, . . . and to be informed of the nature and cause of 
the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against 
him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in 
his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his de¬ 
fense.” 

1. The trial is to be by a jury of the district for two 
reasons: First, it adds to the strength of society to require 
each community to say for itself whether or not it will pun¬ 
ish a crime committed in its own midst. Responsibility for 
the maintenance of order sobers a people. It leads inhabit¬ 
ants of the community to feel that the burden of preserving 
order is upon them. The best way to qualify a people for 


154 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


self-government is to permit them to share in and be re¬ 
sponsible for it. In the next place, the citizens of the district 
are likely to be less prejudiced against the accused, and less 
likely to be indifferent to his rights, and hence more likely to 
be controlled by the principles of justice, than those of a 
district far away. 

2. A just government will insure accused persons a 
speedy trial. In some countries men are thrown into 
prison for small offenses and kept there without trial ten or 
twenty years and even a lifetime. No one knows whether 
they are guilty or not, and as a result the people look upon 
the government as cruel and oppressive. A trial should not 
be so postponed as to deprive society of protection against 
criminals, nor yet be so hurried as to deny the accused a 
fair trial. 

3. All trials should be public. If they could be con¬ 
ducted in secret the enemies of the accused might so manipu¬ 
late things as to condemn him out of hate, and not for vio¬ 
lating a law of the land. When the trial is public, and 
speedy, and the accused is condemned by an impartial jury 
of his own community, in the choosing of which he had some¬ 
thing to do, justice is more likely to be done and the good of 
society conserved. 

4. The accused has the right to be confronted with 
the witnesses against him. They meet each other face to 
face at the trial. He cannot be tried in his absence. If he 
escapes, the trial must be postponed until he is captured and 
brought into court. This is necessary, lest some advantage 
be taken of him in his absence. 

5. The court will also compel witnesses in his favor, 
if their testimony is shown to be material and valuable to 
him, to come into court and testify, whether he be able to 
pay their expenses or not. It would be clearly unjust to con¬ 
demn any person if there are witnesses somewhere who could 
prove him not guilty, but whom he cannot obtain because of 


THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 


155 


a lack of means. The Government does not wish to punish 
the innocent, and in order that it may never do so it grants 
to the accused “compulsory process” to compel witnesses to 
come into court and testify in his behalf what they actually 
know. 

6. The accused is also entitled to a lawyer or counsel 
to assist in his defense. If he is poor and unable to employ 
counsel, the court can compel members of the bar to defend 
him, free of cost. 

All these privileges are guaranteed to one liable to have 
his life or liberty taken from him by the court. The court 
must avoid every form of cruelty and oppression, and these 
things the framers of the Constitution deemed a necessary 
part of a fair trial. But if, in spite of all these advantages 
for proving his innocence, an impartial jury of his country¬ 
men declare him guilty as charged in the indictment, the 
accused must be punished in order to put a stop to crime. 

169. In Civil Cases.—The Constitution as originally 
adopted said nothing about trial by jury in a contest for 
property. It seemed to be assumed that a jury would be 
allowed in such cases according to the custom which had long 
obtained among all English-speaking people. But it was 
soon determined to remove all doubt about the matter by an 
amendment to the Constitution. By amendment seven it 
was declared that “in suits at common law, where the value 
in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right to trial 
by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall 
be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, 
than according to the rules of the common law.” This 
amendment did not create a jury trial to determine property 
rights; that method had long existed; it simply said that it 
should be “preserved;” that neither the courts nor the Con¬ 
gress should have power to take it away. 

It is the peculiar province of the jury to determine is¬ 
sues of fact. If the suit is for breach of contract, they decide 


156 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

(1) whether or not there was a contract, (2) and if so, whether 
or not it has been broken, and (3) if broken, how much has 
been the damage. If one tries to recover damages from a 
railroad for negligence in breaking his arm, the jury decide 
(1) whether or not the railroad was negligent, (2) and if so, 
whether or not that negligence resulted in breaking the arm, 
and (3) if so, how much is the damage. All these are ques¬ 
tions of fact, which the jury are to decide, and the law is that 
they must find what facts are true, and make up their verdict 
accordingly. Neither the judge nor the appellate court will 
interfere with their verdict if there was any substantial evi¬ 
dence to support it, and the case was tried as the law requires. 
But of course if there is no evidence at all, or if the case was 
not tried according to law, the trial judge or the appellate 
court will not permit their verdict to stand, for that would be 
unjust—and this is what is meant by the words ‘‘according 
to the rules of the common law” used in this seventh amend¬ 
ment. They mean that juries were to have the same powers 
aftei: that amendment was adopted that they had long had 
in the courts of the colonies and in England, and that the 
judge must still have the right to say what was the law by 
which they were to be governed. Those rules are in force 
now, and will be so long as that amendment remains un¬ 
changed. They have become a part of the constitution or 
statutes of almost every State in the Union, and hence the 
proceedings and practice of all courts throughout the land 
are very much the same. We can then see how much they 
have done to systematize and harmonize proceedings in all 
American courts. 

170. Indictment by Grand Jury.—It is provided by 
the fifth amendment that ‘‘no person shall be held to answer 
for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a pre¬ 
sentment or indictment of a grand jury except in cases aris¬ 
ing in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in 
actual service in time of war or public danger.” A grand 


THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 


157 


jury in most State courts is composed of twelve citizens, but 
in a Federal court it consists of “not less than sixteen nor 
more than twenty-three persons.” 

1. They meet in secret session, under oath, and inquire 
of witnesses summoned before them if a crime has been com¬ 
mitted, and if so they draw up and present to the court a 
formal written charge called an indictment, which authorizes 
the court to put the person named therein on his trial. It 
specifically informs him of the crime he is charged with 
having committed. The sixth amendment says that “the 
accused shall enjoy the right to be previously informed of 
the nature and cause of the accusation,” and this indictment 
is for that specific purpose. It is placed in his hands before 
the day of the trial, and he cannot be tried for any other 
crime than the one therein charged against him. In this 
way the accused person is given a chance to meet and over¬ 
throw the charge, if false. 

A capital crime is one punishable with death, and the 
words “infamous crime,” as here used, mean any kind of 
felony, which includes all crimes punishable by death or 
imprisonment in the penitentiary. Before one can be con¬ 
victed of such a crime in a Federal court, he must be in¬ 
dicted by a grand jury, and so long as the grand jury refuses 
to indict him he can never be placed upon trial. 

2. Of course, these words from the fifth amendment 
do not mean that one can not be “held” for a crime until he 
is first indicted. If that were the case, many a criminal 
would escape punishment by leaving the country before a 
grand jury could be called. He can be arrested as soon as 
the crime is committed, and if he cannot give bond to appear 
in court at the next meeting of the grand jury, he can be con¬ 
fined in jail until it does meet. It is not denying him a right 
to a “speedy trial” to hold him that long. In some cases, 
such as atrocious murder, he cannot have his liberty until 
the grand jury meets by giving bail, for however large and 


158 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

strong his bond might be he might never appear. If any per¬ 
son admitted to bail does not appear, his bond is forfeited 
and his bondsmen must pay the amount thereof. 

3. It will be observed that according to the fifth amend¬ 
ment persons “in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, 
when in actual service in time of war or public danger,” may 
be “held to answer” for an infamous crime without being 
previously indicted by a grand jury. This is necessary for 
the preservation of order in an army. “In times of war” 
men’s passions break loose, and if order is to be preserved in 
the army, the army must have the right to punish those sol¬ 
diers who break its regulations and commit crimes. The 
army and navy have their own system of trials, called a 
court-martial, which affords a summary and speedy way of 
holding offenders in check. 

171. Twice in Jeopardy.—It is further said in the 
fifth amendment: “Nor shall any person be subject for the 
same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” 
This means that when the accused has once been acquitted 
by a trial jury he can never be tried again for the same of¬ 
fense, however much testimony may be found against him. 
He may be tried-again and again until the jury finally agrees 
upon a verdict, but when that has been done he can not be 
tried again except on his own motion for a new trial; if ac¬ 
quitted, of course he will not ask for a new trial. And if once 
convicted and punished for a crime he can never be tried or 
punished again for that crime. 

172. Self-Conviction.—Another part of the fifth 
amendment is: “No person shall be compelled in any crim¬ 
inal case to be a witness against himself.” The accused per¬ 
son may, if he choose, testify in his own behalf, and if he does 
that, the Government has the right to cross-examine him, 
so as to test the truthfulness of his story; but he cannot be 
produced by the prosecution as a witness and tortured into 


THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 


159 


testifying against himself. He must voluntarily do so, or 
not at all. Any person subpoenaed before a grand jury and 
asked to inform them concerning a crime in which he had a 
part, need do nothing more to shield himself than to say to 
them that his testimony might tend to incriminate him, and 
then they cannot compel him to testify further. 

173. Due Process of Law.—The fifth amendment 
continues: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or 
property without due process of law.” 

Due process of law means according to the settled course 
of proceedings in court. It means trial by jury before a 
regularly elected or appointed judge; it means the observance 
of all those rights which have been discussed in this chapter, 
beginning with section 166. The provision that “no person 
shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due pro¬ 
cess of law,” therefore, means that no person can be deprived 
of those things by any tribunal except a court, and then only 
when all his legal rights are observed at the trial. There is 
a similar provision in the Constitution of every State. Such 
provisions mean that the President, the Congress, the Gov¬ 
ernor, the General Assembly, and all private citizens and all 
public officials must yield obedience to the authority of the 
courts. They are meant to prohibit lynchings and mob vio 
lence. The people have no right to inflict punishments 
according to their own will. Every person in a township or 
a county might gather in a crowd or mass-meeting and agree 
that an accused person should be punished in a certain way, 
and might proceed to inflict that punishment, but all of them 
would be law-breakers and every one of them a criminal. 
The courts have been established for the administration of 
justice, and in no other way and by no other body can it be 
legally administered. 


160 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


Questions on Chapter XVII. 

1. Of what does the judicial department consist? (161) 

2. Were there any courts before the adoption of the Constitution? 

(161) 

3. How were laws of Congress enforced? (161) 

4. What was the result? (161) 

5. What was the result of creating United States courts? (161) 

6. Why should there be United States courts? (161) 

7. Why are courts necessary in a republic? (161) 

8. What duty devolves on United States courts? (161) 

10. Discuss the Supreme Court. (162) 

11. What are the inferior courts? (162) 

12. Discuss district courts. (162) 

13. Circuit courts. (162) 

14. Circuit courts of appeals. (162) 

15. What is said of the Court of Claims? (162) 

16. How may the Supreme Court be a check on Congress? (163) 

17. Where does it get that authority? (163) 

18. What is the especial duty of that court? (163) 

19. How and for how long are judges chosen? (164) 

20. What are their salaries? (165) 

21. With what disputes do not Federal courts deal? (166) 

22. With what disputes do they deal? (166) 

23. What does the Constitution say of trial by jury? (167) 

24. Had there been jury trials before the Constitution was adopted? 

(167) 

25. Where must jury trials occur? (168) 

26. What rights shall the accused enjoy? (168) 

27. What two reasons why the trial should be by jury of the dis¬ 

trict? (168) 

28. What is said of speedy trials? (168) 

29. Why should trials be public? (168) 

30. Must all witnesses against the accused be present at the trial? 

(168) 

31. Can he be tried in his absence? (169) 

32. Suppose witnesses will not appear? (169) 

33. Suppose he is too poor to employ counsel? (169) 

34. Was jury trial in civil cases at first guaranteed by the Consti¬ 

tution? (169) 

35. What did amendment seven declare? (169) 

36. Did it create a jury trial in civil cases? (169) 

37. What is the province of the jury? (169) 


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 


161 


38. When will the judge interfere with their verdict? (169) 

39. How is a grand jury composed? (170) 

40. How is an indictment found? (170) 

41. What is an indictment? (170) 

42. What are its specific purposes? (170) 

43. Can an unindicted person be convicted of a felony in a Federal 

court? (170) 

44. If the accused is once acquitted can he be again tried for the 

same crime? (171) 

45. Can any person be forced to testify against himself? (172) 

46. What is due process of law? (173) 

47. What is said of lynchings? (173) 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

174. New States.—A part of section 3 of article 4 of 
the Constitution is: “New States may be admitted by the 
Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed 
or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any 
State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or 
parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the 
States concerned, as well as of the Congress.” 

Twelve States took part in framing the Constitution, 
and ten of these had adopted it at the time George Washing¬ 
ton was elected President in 1789. Rhode Island declined 
to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention, and did 
not adopt the Constitution for thirteen months after the first 
President was inaugurated. North Carolina had not adopt¬ 
ed it at the time of his inauguration, and New York took no 
part in his election. But by May 29, 1790, all the thirteen 
original colonies had adopted the Constitution, and thereby 
they became subject to its authority. They had already 
been a part of the Union formed under the Articles of Con¬ 
federation, and all they had to do, therefore, to become a 
11 



162 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


part of the Government created by the new Constitution, 
was to ratify it. 

But the words “admitted to the Union” have more than 
once been held to mean that Congress can prescribe the 
terms upon which “new States may be added to this Union.” 
On January 19, 1791, Vermont was admitted to the Union 
as the first “new State.” Since then thirty-four others have 
been admitted, and now the whole number is forty-eight, the 
last admitted being Arizona in 1912. 

Both Kentucky and West Virginia were formed into 
new States from territory formerly embraced within Vir¬ 
ginia: Kentucky, by the consent of the Virginia legislature; 
West Virginia, on the consent of its inhabitants. The ad¬ 
mission of West Virginia was not strictly in keeping with the 
Constitution, for it was not admitted with “the consent of 
the legislature” of Virginia. But Virginia had seceded from 
the Union at that time, and the counties now constituting 
West Virginia did not wish to secede, and petitioned Congress 
to be organized into a separate State and be admitted to the 
Union, and that was done. 

175. Public Lands.—The Constitution says that “the 
Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other prop¬ 
erty belonging to the United States.” 

The Government from the beginning has encouraged its 
citizens to buy its lands and make for themselves homes. 
The usual price for the best lands in a State like Missouri 
was $1.25 per acre, but swamp and saline lands were sold for 
much less. The sale of these lands were made through the 
General Land Office at Washington, which issued to each 
purchaser a patent, or a written deed signed by the Presi¬ 
dent guaranteeing that the Government would protect the 
purchaser against the claims of all other persons. A United 
States patent, therefore, is the best basis one can have for a 
title to his land. In addition to the general land office, there 


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 


163 


are local land offices for the various districts in which the 
Government has land for sale. 

The unpatented lands within a State when “admitted” 
to the Union are retained by the United States until sold, 
then they become subject to the authority of the State, which 
prescribes rules by which they may be taxed and be sold by 
their owners to other persons. In several States, however, 
the Congress has turned over to them certain swamp lands, 
to be sold, and the proceeds applied to draining them; and 
again it has given other lands to a State in aid of a university 
or other schools. 

The lands of the Louisiana Purchase have been disposed 
of by the Union as above set out, but Texas was not created 
out of Territory belonging to the United States, but was ad¬ 
mitted to the Union as an “independent republic,” and 
therefore Texas has been permitted to dispose of her own 
public lands, and retain the money received therefor. 

In States west of the Mississippi river some of the lands, 
instead of being sold for so much an acre, were granted to 
actual settlers in quantities of 160 acres at the small fee of 
fifteen dollars, the settler having proved an actual residence 
thereon of five years. These were called homesteads. And 
from the earliest times lands have been given to soldiers in 
payment of services performed by them in war. These were 
called military bounty lands. 

176. Regulation of Territories.—The population of 
America has constantly moved west. All the territory set¬ 
tled by English-speaking people west of the Mississippi river 
has been settled since the Constitution was adopted. As these 
settlers gathered in a certain region in such numbers as to 
indicate that they were there to stay and that others would 
rapidly join them. Congress would provide a government for 
them, under the clause of the Constitution which says that 
Congress shall “make all needful rules and regulations for 
the territory of the United States.” It began by declaring 


164 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

that a certain tract of the country should be organized into 
a Territory to be known by a certain name, and be governed 
by a code of laws framed by a commission of three or four 
men, one of whom was usually the governor appointed by 
the President, another a judge, also appointed by him. These 
laws were reported to Congress, and if acceptable to it, were 
made binding by it upon all the inhabitants of the Territory. 
This simple government sufficed for a time, but as the set¬ 
tlers continued to grow more numerous, the Congress would 
authorize them to elect delegates to a territorial legislature, 
to frame laws for themselves, the Congress still retaining the 
right to annul any law made by this legislature. Later on it 
authorized the people to elect delegates to a convention to 
frame a constitution as a basis for the admission of the Ter¬ 
ritory into the Union. If this constitution was acceptable 
to Congress and provided a republican form of government, 
the Territory wa$ admitted to the Union as a State. But 
until admitted, its governors and principal officers had been 
appointed by the President. 

177. Oath of Office.—^“The Senators and Represent¬ 
atives before mentioned, and the members of the several 
State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both 
of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound 
by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no 
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any 
office or public trust under the United States.” 

1. The oath prescribed by the Constitution for the 
President is in these words: ‘T do solemnly swear (or affirm) 
that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the 
United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” 
The oath that the Chief Justice must take is this: ‘T do 
solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice 
without respect to persons, and do equal justice to the poor 
and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially 


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 


165 


discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as Chief Justice, 
according to the best of my abilities and understanding, 
agreeable to the Constitution and laws of the United States; 
So help me God.” And the oath of every justice of the 
Supreme Court, and of evety circuit and every district judge 
is the same with such variations only as must necessarily be 
made for a difference in the name of the judge and in the 
name of the court. The wording of the oath for other of¬ 
ficers varies according to their duties, but such oath always 
includes a pledge to support the Constitution of the United 
States. 

Some persons, as for instance the Quakers, on account 
of their religious beliefs, will not take oaths, and hence they 
are required to ‘'solemnly affirm.” 

2. The Constitution does not permit Congress to pre¬ 
scribe a religious test for office. The Government can not 
interfere with any man’s religion. He can not be denied 
office simply because he adheres to certain religious teach¬ 
ings, nor because he is not a member of any religious denom¬ 
ination. Yet, nevertheless, in almost every oath the words, 
“So help me God,” appear. But they are not regarded as 
a “religious test,” but simply a solemn call on God to witness 
the promise that the man makes. 

178. Private Property for Public Use. —The last 
clause of the fifth amendment is: “Nor shall private prop¬ 
erty be taken for public use without just compensation.” 
One of the purposes of the Government is to compel men to 
respect the rights of others to enjoy their property; but to do 
this it must itself show that it respects the rights of its citi¬ 
zens to their own. Hence, it can not take the property of 
any citizen without paying him what it is worth. 

179. Treason. —Every government must have power 
to punish those who rebel against its lawful authority. “Trea¬ 
son against the United States shall consist only in levying 
war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving 


166 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

them aid and comfort.” It is the highest crime with which 
a person may be charged, and may be punished by the most 
severe penalties; but that punishment cannot work “currup- 
tion of blood,” which means that the crime cannot be visited 
upon the children of the traitor. On the contrary, the Con¬ 
stitution says that '‘all persons born in the United States” 
are citizens, and this means that the children of a person who 
has been convicted of treason are as much citizens as those 
of the most law-abiding patriot. “No person can be con¬ 
victed of treason except on the testimony of at least two 
witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open 
court.” The Constitution nowhere says that where a per¬ 
son is charged with some other crime, there must be at least 
two witnesses to “the overt act” or he cannot be convicted, 
but in some States that is the rule, but in most of them any 
kind of proof which “satisfies the mind of the jury beyond a 
reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused” is sufficient to 
convict him. Fortunately, there have been few trials for 
treason in America. The most noted was that of Aaron 
Burr, charged with trying to organize the people of the Mis¬ 
sissippi valley into a separate government, and in that it was 
held (by Chief Justice Marshall) that treason must be shown 
by some overt (that is, an open, public, manifest) act, and 
did not consist merely of treasonable intention and words. 

180. Power to Enforce Its Authority.—After recit¬ 
ing in detail the powers given to Congress (which have been 
already discussed under proper heads) the Constitution says: 
“The Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall 
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the fore¬ 
going powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitu¬ 
tion in the Government of the United States, or in any de¬ 
partment or officer thereof.” 

This is a needed provision. A government must have 
authority to enforce the laws which the Constitution gives 
its legislative body power to enact. Those laws do not en- 


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 


167 


force themselves. The Government cannot depend on the 
whims or good will of the citizens to enforce them. It must 
invest certain officers with power to execute its will, and 
those officers are the courts and the various executive of¬ 
ficers. But this clause does not give Congress unlimited 
powers. It does not give it power to pass any law it may 
deem “necessary and proper.” It has power to pass any law 
it may deem “necessary and proper” for enforcing the powers 
which the Constitution has vested in it and in other depart¬ 
ments of the Government. 

But it cannot pass a law to enforce a power which has 
not somewhere in the Constitution been vested in the Union, 
and it was because it was feared that it might sometime un¬ 
dertake to do that that the tenth amendment was adopted, 
which says that all “powers not delegated to the United 
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 
are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” 
So that when Congress desires to pass a law it deems “neces¬ 
sary and proper,” the first inquiry is, has Congress been given 
by the Constitution power to pass such a law? If not, it 
should not be passed. But Congress itself may think it has 
power to pass it, and do so; then it will be for the President 
to decide whether or not it has such power, and if he thinks 
it does not, he vetoes the bill. If he signs it, it then becomes 
the duty of the Supreme Court, the first time it is asked to 
enforce it, to decide whether or not Congress was vested with 
power to enact it, and if it thinks not, the law becomes at 
once void and of no effect. 

But unless a law is in conflict with the Constitution the 
Supreme Court will not declare it void, however improper 
and unnecessary the judges may consider it. The remedy 
then is with the people, who at the next elections may elect 
other Congressmen who will repeal it; but if they cannot 
elect a Congress that will do that, it is their duty to submit 
to it. 


168 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


181. Republican Form of Government.—The Con¬ 
stitution says that '‘the United States shall guarantee to 
every State in this Union a republican form of government.” 
Ours is a republic. Not only is the Union a republic, but each 
State is a republic, and the Constitution guarantees that 
each State shall remain a republic. And Congress usually 
does this when a State is admitted to the Union. Unless the 
constitution which the State has framed for itself provides 
for a “republican form of government” the State will not be 
admitted, but will be continued as a Territory, and governed 
by such “rules and regulations” as Congress may deem “need¬ 
ful.” For instance, suppose the State when it applies for 
admission has in its new constitution made no provision for 
trial by jury, or has declared that its chief officer shall be a 
king who shall have absolute power to nullify all State laws 
which do not please him; then Congress would deny admis¬ 
sion to the State, and continue its territorial government, 
until a constitution was framed by the people of the Terri¬ 
tory which provides for them a republican form of government. 

This clause does not guarantee a republican form of 
government for the Territories. In fact, we have already 
seen that “the Congress shall have power to make all need¬ 
ful rules and regulations respecting the territory of the United 
States.” The Constitution nowhere says that Congress shall 
guarantee a republican form of government for the Territo¬ 
ries. On the other hand, the President has always appointed 
their governors, and when those territories were first created 
the laws provided for them were made, not by the represent¬ 
atives chosen by the people, but by a few commissioners 
appointed by the President, and the laws drafted by them 
were approved or revised by Congress. But it has always 
been the policy of the Government to make the government 
of a Territory as nearly republican in form as possible and to 
turn over to the people therein the making of their own laws 
as soon as society therein became orderly and American. 


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 


169 


182. Invasion.—“The United States shall protect” 
each State “against invasion.” If Mexico were to send an 
armed force into Texas, it would be the duty of the President- 
without waiting for a request from the Governor of that State 
or from her Legislature, to send a part of the standing army 
there to drive out the invaders. If the entire army were 
not sufficient, his duty would be first to call upon the militia 
of the various States to aid the army, and next on Congress 
to supply him with an army of volunteers. And if one State 
were invaded by another the President’s duty would be the 
same. In all cases of “invasion” of a State by an outside 
force, it is the duty of the President to take the first step in 
protecting the State against it. 

183. Domestic Violence.—But that is not true in case 
of violence or disorders among the people within a State. 
The Constitution says that “the United States shall, on ap¬ 
plication of the legislature, or of the executive (when the 
legislature cannot be convened), protect each State against 
domestic violence.” The duty is imposed on each State to 
maintain order among its own people. The President can¬ 
not interfere to put down an uprising among the people of a 
State against the State’s authority, until the Legislature of 
the State or its Governor requests his aid, and that aid should 
not be requested until it is apparent that the State is not 
alone able to restore order. If the uprising is against the 
authority of the United States government or some of its 
officers, the President may interfere, although the violence is 
entirely within a State; but in that case, the violence is not 
“domestic;” that is, it is not against State authority, but 
against National authority. The Constitution means that 
the United States government is responsible for maintaining 
its authority, and the State for maintaining its—with the 
right in each to call on the other for aid whenever it is needed. 

184. The Supreme Law.—As a final section on the 
Civil Government of the United States, this clause from the 


170 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


Constitution is appropriate: ‘‘This Constitution, and the 
laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance 
thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under 
the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law 
of the land; and the judges of every State shall be bound 
thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State 
to the contrary notwithstanding.” 

The State is bound to yield to the paramount authority 
of the Union. It must not only yield to the superior au¬ 
thority of the Constitution, but it must yield to all constitu¬ 
tional laws passed by Congress. It must also yield to all 
constitutional treaties made by the President and ratified by 
the Senate. The State has no choice in the matter; it must 
yield obedience to that superior authority whether it wants 
to or not. There is nothing humiliating to the States in that; 
they agreed to do that when they ratified the Constitution; 
and by keeping that agreement, each State is a joint partner 
in the best government in the world. 

Questions on Chapter XVIII. 

1. How may a new State be formed? (174) 

2. How did the original thirteen States become a part of the Union? 

(174) 

3. What was the first State admitted? (174) 

4. How many have since been admitted? (174) 

5. How was Kentucky admitted? (174) 

6. How was West Virginia admitted? (174) 

7. What does the Constitution say respecting territory? (175) 

8. How has the Government disposed of the public lands? (175) 

9. What does the Government issue to each purchaser? (175) 

10. What is a patent? (175) 

11. When a State is admitted to the Union what is done with its 
unpatented lands? (175) 

12. Why were the lands in Texas not claimed by the United States? 

(175) 

13. How were homestead lands disposed of? (175) 

14. What are military bounty lands? (175) 

15. Who provided the first government of a Territory? (176) 


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 


171 


16. Under what authority? (176) 

17. Describe the steps in Territorial government. (176) 

18. How did it provide for admitting a Territory into the Union as 

a State? (176) 

19. What officers must take an oath? (177) 

20. What is the President’s oath? (177) 

21. What pledge must the oath of every officer contain? (177) 

22. Who may affirm instead of swear? (177) 

23. What is said about a religious test for office? (177) 

24. What about taking private property for public use? (178) 

25. What is said about treason? (179) 

26. What other laws may Congress make? (180) 

27. Can it pass a law to enforce a power not given to the Union? 

(180) 

28. What clause of the Constitution prohibits it from doing that? 

(180) ^ 

29. When will the Supreme Court declare a law void? (180) 

30. What remedy have the people then? (180) 

31. What must the Union guarantee each State? (181) 

32. How does Congress usually do that? (181) 

33. Does this clause guarantee republican government for the Ter¬ 

ritories? (181) 

34. How is each State protected against invasion? (182) 

35. Who takes the initiative in case of domestic violence? (183) 

36. When may the President aid in putting down an uprising against 

State authority? (183) 

37. Suppose the uprising were against National authority? (183) 

38. What is the supreme law of the land? (184) 

39. Must a State yield to the authority of the Union? (184) 

40. Is there anything humiliating in that? (184) 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE 
STATE OF MISSOURI. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE RISE OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT. 

185. Origin.—The government of Missouri did not 
originate in charters from the king of England, as did those 
of the colonies. Nor did it begin with small counties, which 
were afterwards enlarged and developed into a great State. 
On the contrary, it had its beginning in laws of Congress. 
Congress at the outset gave the people no voice in the kind 
of government they should have, nor did it permit them to 
choose representatives to make laws for them, or officers to 
enforce those laws. But as they became more numerous, and 
better acquainted with the meaning of self-government, it 
granted to them the right to choose representatives to make 
their laws, and after a few years it authorized them to form 
a State government and admitted the State into the Union 
as a full partner in the Republic, but it took care from the 
very first to see to it that the government that should finally 
be adopted by the people should be republican in form. 

186. The Transfer to the United States.—By treaty 
made in Paris on April 30, 1803, France ceded to the United 
States the country then known as the Province of Louisiana, 
which embraced all that part of our country lying between 
the Mississippi river and the Rocky Mountains, except a 

(175) 



176 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


part of Texas. Of. course, what is now called Missouri was 
included in the cession. By the terms of the treaty “the 
inhabitants of the ceded territory” were to be “incorporated 
in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as 
possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitu¬ 
tion, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and im¬ 
munities of citizens of the United States; and in the mean¬ 
time they” were to be “maintained and protected in the free 
enjoyment of their liberty, property and the religion which 
they profess.” This was their only charter of politica,! rights. 
But upon the terms of this treaty they insisted during all the 
territorial days, and when the great national struggle arose 
over the Missouri Compromise, they still insisted that what¬ 
ever privileges were enjoyed by the other States of right 
belonged to them. We shall see that for the most part Con¬ 
gress strictly adhered to the agreements of this treaty, and 
kept true faith with the inhabitants of the Louisiana terri¬ 
tory. 

On October 21st President Jefferson proclaimed the 
treaty ratified, and on October 31st Congress authorized him 
“to take possession of the territory and maintain the author¬ 
ity of the United States” therein. The existing government 
at that time was Spanish, and had been for many years, but 
the people were nearly all French. They had not been used 
to a republic. Neither they nor their ancestors had been 
trained in the principles of republican government. Of 
course, then, they were not prepared to maintain republican 
government in an orderly way. It was necessary to give 
them time to study the Constitution and the workings of the 
State governments along the Atlantic coast, and to learn the 
principles, the privileges and the responsibilities of self-gov¬ 
ernment. But the Congress was careful in providing a 
government for them, to see to it that no injustice was done, 
that no cruel or tyrannical hand was laid upon them. The 
act directing the President to take oossession of the territory 


THE RISE OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT. 


177 


required him to “maintain and protect the inhabitants of 
Louisiana in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and 
religion.” 

187. The Successive Territorial Steps.—On March 
10, 1804, the President, through Captain Amos Stoddard, of 
the United States army, took formal possession of upper 
Louisiana, at St. Louis, and on March 26th, Congress divid¬ 
ed Louisiana into two territories, and named that part of it 
which lies north of the 33rd degree of latitude (the northern 
boundary of the Present State of Louisiana) the “District of 
Louisiana,” and over that district extended “the executive 
power” then vested in the Governor of the Territory of In¬ 
diana, and provided that he and the three United States 
judges of Indiana should establish inferior courts in that dis¬ 
trict and “make all laws for the government of the inhabi¬ 
tants thereof.” At that time William Henry Harrison was 
Governor of Indiana, and the few laws made by him and 
these three judges went into effect on October 1, 1804. They 
were plain laws, easily understood, and provided for trial 
by jury, and were in other respects much like the laws of the 
States along the Atlantic coast. 

But the Governor of Indiana did not long exercise au¬ 
thority here; in fact, the arrangement by which the District 
of Louisiana was, for governmental purposes, attached to 
Indiana Territory, lasted less than a year. In March, 1805, 
Congress directed that “all that part of the country” which 
it had theretofore “called the District of Louisiana,” should 
henceforth be known as the “Territory of Louisiana,” and 
provided for a governor to “reside in the territory,” and a 
secretary, and three district judges, all to be appointed by 
the President. The governor and the three judges were to 
“make laws for the government of the inhabitants,” but 
these were to be laid before Congress, and if disapproved by 
it they were to be of no effect. 

12 


178 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


This was the plan until June 4, 1812, when Congress de¬ 
clared that “the territory heretofore called Louisiana shall 
hereafter be called Missouri,” and that “the legislative power 
of the territory shall be vested in a General Assembly” to be 
composed of two houses, a Legislative Council and a House 
of Representatives. There was to be one Representative for 
“every five hundred free white male inhabitants” to be elect¬ 
ed by the people. The first assembly was to meet in St. 
Louis, and to have thirteen Representatives, but this number 
was to be increased as population increased until the whole 
number reached 25, and thereafter there could be no larger 
number. The Governor (who was still to be appointed by 
the President) was to lay off “the territory into convenient 
counties,” and designate a place in each where the people 
could vote, and appoint officers for conducting the first elec¬ 
tion, but thereafter all elections were to be regulated by the 
General Assembly. A Representative was required to be a 
land-owner, twenty-one years old, and a “white male resi¬ 
dent of the territory for at least one year.” 

The Legislative Council was composed of nine members, 
and were chosen in an unusual way. The Representatives 
nominated eighteen “residents of the Territory, each possess¬ 
ing two hundred acres of land in his own right,” and from 
this list the President selected nine who had to be approved 
by the Senate, and if the Senate rejected any name the Presi¬ 
dent had to choose another from among the eighteen names 
on the list. The nine men thus chosen constituted the 
Legislative Council, and held office for five years. 

But all “free white male citizens” of the Territory who 
were such at the time Louisiana was ceded to the Union were 
made eligible to hold any office, and given the right to vote. 
Hence, the French citizens (although not so designated) were 
given a preference over later English-speaking settlers, since 
they were not required to be land-owners in order to be 
eligible to office. 


THE RISE OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT. 


179 


The law of 1812 also gave Missouri Territory a delegate 
in Congress, and provided for territorial courts of every 
grade, and vested in the Governor the power to appoint all 
judges thereof, and all other officers of the Territory. 

This was the territorial government provided by Con¬ 
gress for Missouri during the territorial days. On March 6, 
1820, Congress provided a plan under which “the inhabit¬ 
ants” of that portion of “Missouri Territory” included 
within the present boundaries of the State except the Platte 
Purchase, were authorized to “form a constitution and State 
government.” This constitution was framed in 1820, and 
on August 10, 1821, Missouri, with the same boundaries it 
now has excepting the Platte Purchase, was admitted into 
the Union. The Constitution of 1820 remained in force 
until 1865 when it was supplanted by another, and that by 
another in 1875, and the one of 1875, with certain subsequent 
amendments, is now the fundamental law of the State gov¬ 
ernment. 

Questions on Chapter I. 

1. How did the government of Missouri originate? (185) 

2. To what nation did Missouri formerly belong? (186) 

3. How was it acquired? (186) 

4. What great provision was in the treaty? (186) 

5. Was Congress under obligation to faithfully carry out that pro¬ 

vision? (186) 

6. Who was authorized to take possession of the territory? (186) 

7. Who authorized him to do it? (186) 

8. Why could not the people be permitted to form a government 
for themselves? (186) 

9. What was the President directed to do in taking possession? (186) 

10. What was the first arrangement? (187) 

11. Who made the laws for the territory? (187) 

12. Was Congress authorized by the United States Constitution to 
direct laws to be made in that way? (176) 

13. What name was first given the northern part of the territory? 
What name was next given? And what was the third name? 

(187) 


180 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 

14. Who made laws for the territory of Missouri? (187) 

15. How many Representatives, how and by whom elected, and 
qualifications? (187) 

16. How many Councilors, how and by whom elected, and qualifi¬ 

cations? (187) 

17. Who could vote? (187) 

18. What other officers did the law of 1812 give Missouri territory, 
and how were they selected? (187) 

19. What is said about the organization of Missouri as a State and 
its admission to the Union? (187) 


CHAPTER II. 

THE MISSOURI CONSTITUTION. 

188. The Constitution.—The Constitution of Mis¬ 
souri is the fundamental law of the State government, just as 
we have seen the Constitution of the United States to be the 
fundamental law of the whole Union. The Constitution of 
a State may contain any provision that its people may wish 
to put into it, with one exception, and that is, it must not con¬ 
tain anything in conflict with the Constitution of the United 
States. That means, it must provide for a republican form 
of government for the people of the State, and it must not 
authorize the Legislature or other State officers to exercise 
any power which we have seen the Federal Constitution de¬ 
nied to the States or provided that Congress alone should 
exercise. 

189. How Framed and Adopted.—The Constitution 
of the United States was ratified by conventions in the dif¬ 
ferent States, composed of delegates chosen for that purpose 
by the people; the present Constitution of Missouri was 
framed by a convention of delegates chosen by the people 
for that express purpose, and then submitted to the people 
at the polls, who adopted it on October 30, 1875. It took 



THE MISSOURI CONSTITUTION. 


181 


effect, according to its terms, on November 30th of the same 
year. 

190. Why Not Discussed at Length.—The Consti¬ 
tution of Missouri is a lengthy document. It consists of 
fifteen articles and a schedule, and a full discussion of the 
whole of it would require a large volume. To set it out in 
full would take seventy or eighty pages of this book. Nor 
is that necessary. So much of it as should be known by the 
average student will be explained. 

191. Bill of Rights.—Thirty-two sections of the Con¬ 
stitution, or all of Article II, are given up to a clear declara¬ 
tion of the rights of a citizen, the rights of the State and the 
rights of the Union. This article is called the “Bill of Rights.” 
It declares among other things, that “all political power is 
vested in the people;” that “the people of this State have the 
inherent, sole and exclusive right to regulate the internal 
government thereof;” that “Missouri is a free and independ¬ 
ent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United 
States;” that “the people of this State will never assent to 
any amendment or change of the Constitution of the United 
States which may in anywise impair the right of local self- 
government belonging to the people of this State;” that “all 
elections shall be free and open, and no power, civil or mili¬ 
tary, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise 
of the right of suffrage;” that “all persons have a natural 
right to life, liberty, and the enjoyment of the gains of their 
own industry;” and “that to give security to these things is 
the principal office of government.” Every State has a simi¬ 
lar bill of rights. They all set forth the rights of the people, 
and the purposes for which government among them is estab¬ 
lished. 

192. How Amended.—The Constitution prescribes 
two ways by which it can be amended. The first is for the 
Legislature, or the people by an initiative petition, to pro- 


182 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


pose an amendment to a certain section, to be submitted to 
the voters at the next general election, and if a majority of 
those voting on the proposition vote for it it becomes a part 
of the Constitution. This is a very easy way; in fact, too 
easy. It does not require a majority of all the voters voting 
at the election to vote for the amendment; it simply requires 
that there be more votes ‘‘yes” than “no.” The amendment 
is printed on all the election ballots, and those who desire its 
adoption simply scratch out the word “no,” and all ballots 
scratched in that way are counted for the amendment. But 
if the voter does not scratch out either the word “yes” or 
“no,” the ballot is not counted either for or against the 
amendment. A majority of the voters who go to the polls 
and vote for candidates for office do not vote either yes or 
no; it is usually only those voters who wish the amendment 
adopted, or those whose attention has been called to it and 
who have thereby been aroused to oppose it, that vote on 
the proposition at all. So that it comes about that no amend¬ 
ment ever receives a majority of all the votes cast at the elec¬ 
tion. The result is that in recent years several amendments 
have been adopted which would not have been had all the 
voters taken the pains to vote “on the proposition,” The 
second mode is much more difficult. It consists of four 
steps: (1) The Legislature authorizes a vote of the people 
on the calling of a convention to revise or amend the Consti¬ 
tution. If a majority of the persons voting on the proposi¬ 
tion vote for such convention, then the Governor fixes an 
election day when (2) delegates may be chosen thereto, and 
these delegates when they meet in convention (3) may revise 
the Constitution to any extent they please, and then (4) the 
Constitution as thus revised and amended is to be submitted 
to a vote of the people at an election held for that purpose 
and they must adopt or reject it as a whole, by a majority of 
the votes cast. Thus before a general change in the Consti¬ 
tution can be secured the proposition must come before the 


THE MISSOURI CONSTITUTION. 


183 


people at three separate elections. This is right. The fun¬ 
damental law of a people should not be changed unless there 
is a clear necessity for it. 

193. The Three Departments.—The Constitution 
divided “the powers of government” into three departments 
similar to the three departments of the government of the 
United States. There is an executive, a legislative and a 
judicial department, and each is distinct and separate from 
the others, “and no person, or collection of persons charged 
with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these 
departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging 
to the others.” The Governor cannot, for instance, call a 
grand jury or direct what decision a court shall render, for 
that is a judicial matter. The Supreme Court cannot com¬ 
pel the Legislature'to pass a law, or restrain it from passing 
one, for that is a legislative matter. The Legislature cannot 
shackle the courts so as to compel them to render a certain 
decision. The duties of each department are laid out in the 
Constitution, and governmeat is stronger and better when 
each confines itself to its own work. 

194. Executive Department.—The chief executive of¬ 
ficers of Missouri are a Governor, in his absence a Lieuten¬ 
ant-Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treas¬ 
urer, Attorney-General and Superintendent of Public Schools. 
These are all provided for by the Constitution, and hence the 
Legislature has no power to abolish their offices. They are 
all elected by the people. There are other State executive 
officers, such as Railroad Commissioners, Superintendent 
of Insurance, Bank Commissioner, Labor Commissioner and 
Adjutant-General, but they are not mentioned in the Consti¬ 
tution, but have been provided for by the General Assembly. 
There are other executive officers provided for by law for 
counties, cities, schools and the various institutions belong¬ 
ing to the State. These will be discussed elsewhere. 


184 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


195. Legislative Department. —The law-making body 
is the General Assembly, composed of two houses, a Senate 
and a House of Representatives. In each city there is a 
minor legislative body called a municipal assembly, council, 
or board of aldermen, and these will be discussed under the 
heading of Cities, Towns and Villages. 

196. Judicial Department. —The judiciary of the 
State consists of one Supreme Court, whose sessions are held 
at Jefferson City; the St. Louis Court of Appeals, the Kansas 
City Court of Appeals and the Springfield Court of Appeals, 
which are appellate courts in misdemeanor cases and in civil 
suits involving less than |7,500; the circuit courts, each of 
which has jurisdiction over one or more counties, and are the 
great trial courts of the State; probate courts, for the settle¬ 
ment of the estates of deceased persons and the care of the 
persons and the management of the estates of orphaned 
minors and insane persons; and justices of the peace for each 
township. There are also in certain parts of the State, 
courts of common pleas and criminal courts. 

Questions on Chapter II. 

1. What is the fundamental law of the State and how far is it such? 

(188) 

2. What must it provide? (188) 

3. Can the State exercise any power denied it by United States 
Constitution? (188) 

4. How was the Missouri Constitution framed and adopted? (189) 

5. Why is it not discussed at length? (190) 

6. Mention some declarations of the Bill of Rights. (191) 

7. What is the first way in which the Constitution may be amend¬ 

ed? (192) 

8. To be adopted must the proposed amendment receive a majority 
of all the votes on the proposition? (192) 

9. Who usually voce on the proposition? (192) 

10. What have you to say of those who do not vote on it at all? 

11. What is the other method by which the Constitution may be 

amended? (192) 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


185 


12. What three departments of government? (193) 

13. Explain how they are separate and distinct. (193) 

14. Who are the chief executive officers? (194) 

15. Are there any others? (194) 

16. What is the law-making body? (195) 

17. Are there any minor legislative bodies? (195) 

18. Of what courts does the judiciary of the State consist? (196) 


CHAPTER III. 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

197. Composed of Two Houses.—The General As¬ 
sembly of the State of Missouri is usually spoken of as the 
Legislature, but it is not so designated in the Constitution, 
nor in the statutes. It is composed of two houses, the Sen¬ 
ate and House of Representatives. ^And here again, as with 
the Congress, the Senate is sometimes referred to as the 
Upper House, and the House of Representatives as the Lower 
House. But those designations have no real significance, 
and are not justified by any law, or by any other fact, unless 
it be that the office of Senator is considered somewhat more 
honorable and powerful than that of Representative. The 
use of these terms reminds one of the old colonial days along 
the Atlantic coast, when the Governor’s council was styled 
the Upper House, and the people’s representatives or the 
assembly were spoken of as the Lower House. That use is 
now chiefly of interest as an historical illustration of the fact 
that a law or custom may survive in the minds of the people 
long after it has in fact been abolished. 

198. The House of Representatives is the most nu¬ 
merous branch of the General Assembly. Its members are 
chosen at the general elections in November of each even 
numbered year for a term of two years beginning the follow¬ 
ing January. Each county is entitled to one Representative, 



186 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


and the larger counties to more than one. The method of 
apportionment, which is made once in ten years, is a peculiar 
one. First, the ratio is obtained by dividing the whole num¬ 
ber of inhabitants in the State by 200. Then each county 
that has two and one-half times said ratio is entitled to two 
Representatives; each county having four times said ratio 
is entitled to three; each county having six times said ratio 
is entitled to four, and so on above that number, there being 
one additional Representative for every two and one-half 
ratios. This ratio at the present time is about 16,467, so 
that a county must have about 41,167 inhabitants before it 
can have two Representatives, about 65,867 before it can 
have three, about 98,800 before it can have four, and for 
every 41,167 inhabitants above that number it can have one 
more Representative. This rule of apportionment will, for 
many years at least, give the rural communities a majority 
of Representatives in the General Assembly. More than 
half the population of the State might be in two or three large 
cities, yet a majority of the Representatives would still come 
from that part of the State outside of such cities, because 
each county, however few its inhabitants, must have at least 
one Representative. Representation in the House is largely 
representation by counties, though partly in proportion to 
population. In New England, where towns take the place of 
counties, representation in the House is even more emphat¬ 
ically representation by towns, though partly in proportion 
to population. We shall see in the next section that repre¬ 
sentation in the Senate is according to population. 

The General Assembly, guided by this rule of apportion¬ 
ment, determines the number of Representatives to which 
a county is entitled, and it is required by the Constitution 
to do that “at the first session of the General Assembly” 
after the taking of each decennial census. When by a law 
the General Assembly has said what number of Represent¬ 
atives a county may have, if more than one, it becomes the 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


187 


duty of the county court to divide the county into an equal 
number of legislative districts, having about the same num¬ 
ber of inhabitants, and thereafter for the next ten years one 
Representative is elected from each by the voters residing 
therein. That is the rule for the entire State unless a county 
is entitled to ten or more, which means for the whole State 
except St. Louis, which is classified as a county. In such a 
county, or that city, the circuit court divides the county 
into districts so as to give to each district not less than two 
nor more than four Representatives, and they are required 
to be residents of the district by which elected. 

199. The Senate.—The Senate is composed of thirty- 
four Senators, elected by the people of their respective dis¬ 
tricts, each for a term of four years. At the first session of 
the Legislature after the taking of the decennial census, the 
State is divided into thirty-four districts “as nearly equal in 
population as may be” without dividing any county. These 
districts are numbered from 1 to 34, and on Presidential 
years one Senator is elected from each of those having odd 
numbers, and two years later one from each of those having 
even numbers. A county cannot be partly in one district 
and partly in another, but it may have more than one Sen¬ 
ator if it has the requisite number of inhabitants. The ad¬ 
vantage of the rule requiring one-half the Senators to be elect¬ 
ed every two years is that at the opening of each session one- 
half of the Senators are experienced members. 

If the Legislature fails to divide the State into senatorial 
districts, it becomes the duty of the Governor, Secretary of 
State and Attorney-General to do so within thirty days after 
the Legislature adjourns. When by such division, whether 
made by those officers or the Legislature, a county (such as 
St. Louis or Jackson county) is entitled to more than one 
Senator, it is the duty of the circuit court to divide it into as 
many districts as it is entitled to Senators, and then one is 
elected from each district by the people thereof. 


188 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


200. Presiding Officers.—The presiding officer of the 
House is the Speaker, who is chosen by the Representatives 
from among themselves. To preside in his absence there is 
a Speaker pro tempore, chosen in the same way. The presid¬ 
ing officer of the Senate is the Lieutenant-Governor, who is 
made such by the Constitution. To preside in his absence 
the Senators choose from their own number a President of 
the Senate pro tempore. The Speaker may be removed from 
his position by a majority of the Representatives at any time; 
the Lieutenant-Governor can be removed as presiding officer 
of the Senate only by being removed from his office as Lieu¬ 
tenant-Governor, that is, by impeachment. 

The Speaker and Lieutenant-Governor usually appoint 
the committees of the respective houses. They are not given 
that right by the Constitution or the statutes, but it is a 
privilege usually accorded to them. But a majority of either 
house can at any time order its committees to be appointed 
in some other way, and the Senate more than once has au¬ 
thorized the President pro tempore to appoint its committees. 

201. Qualifications.—A Senator must be thirty, and 
a Representative twenty-four, years of age. A Senator must 
have been a qualified voter of this State for three years prior 
to his election, and a Representative a qualified voter for two 
years, and both must be male citizens of the United States; 
that is, either born in the United States or naturalized. A 
Senator must have resided in his district for one year before 
his election, and a Representative in his county or district for 
the same length of time; and each must have paid a State and 
county tax within the year preceding his election. 

202. Compensation.—The pay of a Senator or Rep¬ 
resentative is five dollars a day for the first seventy days of 
an ordinary session, and one dollar per day for the remainder 
of such session. For revising sessions they are paid five 
dollars per day for one hundred and twenty days, and one 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


189 


dollar a day thereafter. In addition to this, each member of 
either house is allowed necessary traveling expenses from 
his home to the capital and for the return, and thirty dollars 
for postage and other like expenses. 

203. Holding Other Offices.—No Senator or Repre¬ 
sentative shall ‘‘during the term for which he shall have been 
elected be appointed to any office under this State or any 
municipality thereof.” This is one of the wholesome pro¬ 
visions of the Constitution. It was designed to prohibit 
legislators from creating new offices for themselves, and from 
increasing the salaries of some county or city office which 
they might hold, and also to leave them free to legislate as 
the public interest might require. All temptation of-that 
kind is removed from the legislator by this provision. The 
Legislature may create a new office, and the legislator may 
resign his seat and be elected to it. But he cannot be ap¬ 
pointed to it at any time during the time for which he was 
elected; that is, during two years if a Representative, or four 
years if a Senator. Even if he were to resign he could not 
be appointed to any other office under the laws of this State 
until the term for which he was elected had expired. He 
may resign and be elected by the people to any such other 
office, but he cannot be appointed. In this way the people 
have a chance to determine whether or not he used his posi¬ 
tion as legislator for his own benefit in creating a new office 
or in increasing the salary of one already created. Of course, 
he may resign and be appointed or elected to any United 
States office, but by resigning he does not become eligible to 
be appointed to any state, county or city office, either by the 
Governor, or by any board or by any court or by any mayor. 
Nor can a member of Congress, or any person holding 
any lucrative office of the United States or of this State, be 
at the same time a member of the General Assembly. The 
meaning of these provisions in the Constitution is that mem¬ 
bers of the Legislature are not in any wise to become entan- 


190 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


gled with the duties of any office which might interfere with 
their duties as legislators. 

204. Oath of Office. —Every officer in this State, from 
the highest to the lowest, is required to take an oath of office. 
That prescribed by the Constitution for the members of the 
Legislature is in these words: “I do solemnly swear (or 
affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United 
States and of the State of Missouri, and faithfully perform 
the duties of my office; and that I will not knowingly receive, 
directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing, for 
the performance or non-performance of any act or duty per¬ 
taining to my office, other than the compensation allowed by 
law.” If any person elected to the office of Senator or Rep¬ 
resentative refuse to take this oath, he thereby vacates the 
office. The oath for other offices varies slightly from this, 
the variation having regard to the duties to be performed by 
the officers. 

205. Sessions. —The General Assembly meets in regu¬ 
lar session on the first Wednesday after the first day of Jan¬ 
uary of each odd-numbered year, and fixes its own time for 
final adjournment. An extra session may be called by the 
Governor at any time, but such session can consider only the 
subjects mentioned in the Governor’s call or in special mes¬ 
sages sent in by him after it convenes. The proceedings are 
public, the Constitution saying that “the sessions of each 
house shall be held with open doors, except in cases which 
may require secrecy.” 

206. Powers of Each House. —Each house has the 
right to appoint its own officers, and to determine the right 
of any member to his seat, and to make rules for governing 
its proceedings. It may punish any disorderly member, and 
with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members may 
expel a member; but no member who has once been expelled 
and has again been elected by the people can be again ex¬ 
pelled for the same cause. 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


191 


207. A Law, How Passed.—A bill to become a law 
must receive the vote of a majority of the members elected 
to each house and be signed by the Governor; or, if vetoed by 
the Governor, that is, returned to the house in which it orig¬ 
inated without his signature and with his objections, it must 
then receive the votes of two-thirds of the members of each 
house. If the Governor does not, within ten days, approve 
or disapprove a bill, nor return it to the house in which it 
originated, it may, by a resolution passed by both houses 
reciting such fact, become a law anyhow. If the General 
Assembly has adjourned within ten days after a bill is pre¬ 
sented to the Governor, he may, within thirty days, return 
it to the Secretary of State with his approval or veto; and if 
approved by him within that time it becomes a law; if vetoed, 
it does not become a law. 

208. Committees and Rules.—The rules adopted by 
each house provide for the appointment of numerous com¬ 
mittees. To one of these committees a bill when introduced 
in either house is referred, and that committee will report it 
back to the house with a recommendation that “it do pass,” 
or that “it do not pass,” or that “it pass with certain amend¬ 
ments” proposed by the committee, or that a substitute 
framed by the committee be passed in its stead. Then the 
bill is again in the house, and when it is called up there other 
amendments to the original bill or to the amended bill or to 
the proposed substitute may be made by the whole house. 
The next step is to pass the original bill or the amended bill 
or the substitute to engrossment. If it is not ordered en¬ 
grossed that is the end of it; but if it is passed to engrossment 
it is printed, and its number placed on the calendar of bills 
ready for final passage, and in due course that number is 
reached on the call of the calendar, and the bill as engrossed 
put on its final passage, and then it must receive a majority 
of all the members of the house or fail of passage. 

If it receives such a majority, it is sent to the other 


192 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


house, and there it is referred to the proper committee, which 
reports it back to that house with a recommendation that ‘ht 
do pass” or that “it do not pass,” or that “it pass with cer¬ 
tain amendments” proposed by the committee, or that a sub¬ 
stitute framed by the committee be passed in its stead. 
Then it is back in that house, and when it is called up there 
other amendments to the bill as it was received from the 
other house or to the committee’s proposed substitute may be 
made or an entirely new substitute may be adopted. The 
next step is to pass the bill thus adopted to engrossment; if 
that is done, it is printed, and placed on the calendar of bills 
ready for final passage, and when it is reached on the calen¬ 
dar it is put on its final passage, and if a majority of all the 
members of that house vote for it, it is declared passed. If 
it has not been amended in any wise since it reached that 
house, it then goes to the Governor for his approval or veto. 

If it has been amended in that house, it must then return 
to the house from which it came, and if that house concurs 
in the amendments, it goes to the Governor; if that house 
does not concur in the amendments, it can indefinitely post¬ 
pone any further consideration of the bill, or ask for a com¬ 
mittee of conference to meet a like committee from the other 
house. These committees, when they get together and agree 
on the points in dispute, make the same report to their re¬ 
spective houses, and then if their recommendations are 
adopted by both houses the bill with their recommendations 
is declared passed and goes to the Governor as before. But 
if those conference committees cannot agree, they so report 
to their respective houses; then the house refusing to concur 
in the amendments made by the other must recede from that 
action or the bill fails. 

Every bill must be read on three different days in each 
house. It is read the first time (by its title only) on the day 
it is referred to a committee. It is read the second time when 
it comes up for engrossment, and the third time when it is 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


193 


put upon its final passage. Each of these actions must be 
taken on different days. So the shortest time in which a 
bill can be passed through both houses is six days. Few bills 
ever have such an expeditious movement through the Legis¬ 
lature as that. 

209. Journals of Yeas and Nays.—On the final pas¬ 
sage of a bill the roll of members is called and the vote is taken 
by yeas and nays, and the names of members voting for and 
against the bill are entered on the journal, and unless a ma¬ 
jority of all the members of the house vote yea the bill is 
declared lost. That journal is published in book-form after 
adjournment, in order that the people may definitely know 
how each member voted. It takes only a majority of those 
voting on the proposition to pass a bill to engrossment, not a 
majority of all members, and consequently the yeas and nays 
are rarely taken on the proposition to pass a bill to engross¬ 
ment, but on the demand of any two members a yea-and- 
nay vote may be taken on any question. 

210. Appropriation Bills.—The Constitution of the 
United States provides that “all bills for raising revenue shall 
originate in the House of Representatives,” and that has 
uniformly been held to mean that bills for the appropriation 
of public moneys shall originate in the House, too. But the 
Missouri Constitution contains no such provision. It pro¬ 
vides that “bills may originate in either house,” and that 
means that bills for levying taxes and for the appropriation 
of public moneys may originate in the Senate as well as the 
House. But in practice it has become the rule in the General 
Assembly for appropriation bills to originate in the House, 
but the Senate has the power to amend any such bill, just as 
it may any other bill. 

211. Order of Appropriations.—But the Constitu¬ 
tion fixes the order in which the Legislature must make ap¬ 
propriations. It must first provide for the payment of the 

13 


194 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


interest due the Seminary Fund and the Public School Fund, 
then for the support of the public schools, then for the cost 
of collecting the revenue, then for the salaries of State officers, 
judges, etc., then for the support of the various asylums, and 
last of all for the pay of its own members and for other nec¬ 
essary purposes. Thus, the Legislature is compelled to pro¬ 
vide for the support of the other branches of the government 
before its members can have their own small salaries and 
the compensation of its clerks paid, and in this way they are 
forced to see to it that the appropriations do not outrun the 
revenues that will be received into the Treasury during the 
next two years. 

212. Money, How Paid Out.—Whenever any money 
belonging to the State, such as taxes or fees, or from what¬ 
ever source derived, is received by a county collector or any 
other officer, it must be paid into the State Treasury; and 
no money can be paid out by the State Treasurer or by the 
Governor or by any one else except in pursuance to appro¬ 
priation bills passed by the Legislature. The General As¬ 
sembly must first determine how the public moneys are to 
be spent. That it does through appropriation bills, and the 
money can be spent in no other way except as in the appro¬ 
priation bills provided. 

213. Power of the Governor Over Appropriations. 

—But even then an appropriation bill is not final, for the 
Governor can strike from any appropriation bill containing 
several items any item he may object to. He must approve 
or reject all other bills as a whole; but to an appropriation 
bill containing several items he may append a statement of 
the items to which he objects, and then that part of the bill 
fails. He cannot cut down the item; he cannot increase it; 
he must object to the whole item, or to none of it. Thus, a 
bill providing for the support of the State Normal schools 
and the University will contain seven items, one for each of 
the six Normals and one for the University. The appropri- 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


195 


ation for the Normals may, in his opinion, be about right, 
but he may consider that for the University too large by one- 
half. But he cannot reduce that item by one-half; he must 
object to it as a whole, or not at all. If he objects to it he 
transmits his objection to the Legislature, if it is in session, 
and it can recast the item as it sees fit, but if it is not in ses¬ 
sion, the whole item fails. 

This provision of the Missouri Constitution which gives 
the Governor the right to object to any item of an appro¬ 
priation bill containing several items is very different from 
the provisions of the Constitution of the United States. The 
President has no such power as that. He must approve any 
appropriation bill as a whole, or veto it as a whole. From 
no bill passed by Congress can he strike out an item; what¬ 
ever its character, he must approve it as a whole or veto it 
as a whole. 

214. Creating Debts.—The Constitution imposes rig¬ 
id restrictions on the power of the State to contract debts. 
In only two instances can a State debt be now created. (1) 
On the occurring of an unforeseen emergency, or a casual 
deficiency in the State revenue, upon the recommendation 
of the Governor, the Legislature can contract a debt, by bonds 
or otherwise, not in excess of $250,000 for any one year, to 
be paid within two years after it was made. (2) On the 
occurring of an unforeseen emergency or a casual deficiency 
in the revenue, a debt in excess of $250,000 may be created 
only when two-thirds of the voters at an election held for 
that purpose authorize the debt to be made, and the levying 
of a tax sufficient to pay the debt within thirteen years. 

The Capitol might burn, or there might be a violent up¬ 
rising of lawless persons which could only be put down at 
great and unusual expense. Either of those things would be 
“an unforeseen emergency,” and to rebuild the Capitol or 
to meet the expense of putting down the uprising and restor¬ 
ing order, the General Assembly, upon the recommendation 


196 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


of the Governor, might authorize debts for any one year to 
the amount of $250,000. But if a debt in excess of that sum 
is needed, either for those purposes or any other, it cannot 
be made until after two-thirds of the voters at an election 
not only consent that it be created, but authorize a levy of 
taxes to pay it within thirteen years. 

For no other purpose and in no other way can a State 
debt be now created. At the time the present Constitution 
was adopted, the State had debts, in the form of bonds, made 
to aid the building of railroads and for other purposes, and 
the General Assembly was authorized to provide for the 
issuing of other bonds in renewal of those bonds, and that 
was done. But all the State’s debt except that due to the 
Seminary Fund and the Public School Fund has now been 
paid, and by an amendment to the Constitution made in 
1902 only the interest due those funds is, for the present, at 
least, to be paid. Hence, a State debt can now be made 
only when an unforeseen emergency arises, or there is a 
casual deficiency in the revenue. As a matter of fact, only 
once since the adoption of the present Constitution in 1875 
has any debt been authorized, and that was in 1911, when 
the people, by a vote of more than three to one, ratified a 
proposition submitted to them by the General Assembly, to 
issue bonds to the amount of $3,500,000, to be sold, and the 
proceeds to be used in building a new Capitol, the old one 
having burned on February 5th of that year. 

215. Cash Basis.—The meaning of the various pro¬ 
visions of the Constitution in reference to appropriations and 
the contracting of debts is that the State’s business shall be 
conducted on a cash basis; that all salaries and all current 
expenses shall be paid as they become due. 

216. Class Legislation.—The present Constitution 
prohibits the passage of special or local laws. All laws must 
apply alike to all persons or subjects of the same class. The 
Legislature cannot grant a special charter to one of several 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


197 


cities of the same class; but it is required to pass laws by 
which all cities of the same class may organize and conduct 
their governments. Thus, the laws regulating the affairs 
of cities of the fourth class apply to all cities of that class. 
The laws defining the duties of the county clerk define the 
duties of all county clerks. The Legislature cannot direct 
who shall be the heirs of a certain named citizen, but it can 
declare that the children or other persons may be the heirs 
of deceased persons. It cannot vacate a certain public road, 
but it can by a general law prescribe the methods by which 
any public road may be vacated. All laws must apply alike 
to all subjects or persons belonging to a natural class. 

217. Laws on What Subjects.—The General Assem¬ 
bly can make laws on a great many subjects; in fact, it can 
enact any law which it is not by the Constitution forbidden 
to pass. 

It could not enact a law abolishing the Supreme Court 
or other courts created by the Constitution, for the courts 
have by the Constitution been made a part of the govern¬ 
ment, just as has the General Assembly. Nor could it enact 
a law that abolishes the office of Governor, or other chief ex¬ 
ecutive officers, for those officers have also been created by 
the Constitution. So the first question that every legisla¬ 
tor must ask himself when he comes to consider a proposed 
bill is. Is it forbidden by the Constitution? And if the bill 
passes both houses, the first question the Governor must ask 
himself when it comes before him for approval is, Is it con¬ 
stitutional? If it is not, in his opinion, he must veto it, for 
the Governor takes the same oath as does the Senator or 
Representative, to ‘‘support the Constitution,” and if he 
believes a law is forbidden by the Constitution he is bound 
by his oath to veto it. And if he signs the bill, and it comes 
before the Circuit judge or the Supreme judge, the first ques¬ 
tion he must ask is. Is it constitutional? If it is not, he must, 
since he is bound by his oath “to support the Constitution,” 


198 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


refuse to enforce it. The next question the legislator or the 
Governor will ask himself is, Is it wise? Is it needed? But 
the judge will not ask that question. It is not for the courts 
to say that a law is wise or needed. That belongs to the 
law-making body, and to the Governor, who has a veto 
power. But the courts will enforce a constitutional law, 
however unwise or silly the judge may consider it. 

And so we may say that the General Assembly may 
enact any law it deems wise or needed, except such as are 
forbidden by the Constitution. But however wise or much 
needed, the Supreme Court will not permit a legislative act 
to be enforced if it is of the opinion that it is forbidden by 
the Constitution. 

The Legislature can enact any law not forbidden by the 
Constitution. But an executive officer can exercise no power 
except such as is specifically given him by the Constitution 
or the laws, and the courts will never inquire whether a law 
is wise or unwise. This is a marked distinction between the 
power of the Legislature and the power of an executive 
officer and the power of a court. 

218. When a Law Takes Effect.—No law passed by 
the Legislature, except the general appropriation act, “shall 
take effect or go into force until ninety days after the ad¬ 
journment of the session at which it was enacted,” unless 
there is attached to it an emergency clause, and two-thirds of 
all the members elected to each house “otherwise direct;” in 
which case, the law will take effect at once or at any subse¬ 
quent time that the Legislature may designate. 

219. Laws and Revised Statutes.—All the laws 
passed at one session are published in one book called the 
“Laws” of that year. At the last regular session of each 
decade, called a revising session, all the laws of the State then 
in force are revised, collated and arranged under proper heads 
and in connected order, and published in one or more large 
volumes designated “Revised Statutes.” The Revised Stat- 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


199 


utes of 1909 are three large volumes. They contain all the 
general laws passed by the Legislature at any time prior to 
such revision that had not been repealed. In these volumes 
the laws are collected into chapters and articles and sections, 
and the sections are numbered consecutively from the begin¬ 
ning to the end, just as the sections of this book are num¬ 
bered. Each chapter is given an appropriate heading, and 
then the chapters are arranged in alphabetical order in each 
volume. 

220. Impeachments.—The chief executive officers 
and the judges of the higher courts may be impeached for 
“high crimes and misdemeanors, misconduct, habits of drunk¬ 
enness, or oppression in office.” An impeachment is a trial 
instituted in the General Assembly for the purpose of re¬ 
moving an important officer of the State from his office. The 
House must originate impeachments. It draws up the 
charges against the officer and sends them to the Senate, and 
the Senate hears the evidence and determines whether or 
not he is guilty of the things of which the House charges him. 
It takes two-thirds of the Senators present to convict, and a 
conviction means the removal of the officer from office and 
his disqualification to hold office thereafter. When the Gov¬ 
ernor is on trial the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court pre¬ 
sides. 

As a matter of fact, there has been no impeachment 
trial in this State since the adoption of the present Constitu¬ 
tion—so much for the uniform upright conduct of our judges 
and chief executive officers. Prior to 1875 four or five cir¬ 
cuit judges had been tried by impeachment, and one con¬ 
victed and removed from office. Since that time no motion 
has ever been made in the House to have any officer im¬ 
peached. 

220a. Initiative and Referendum.—The people also 
have power to enact laws independently of the General As¬ 
sembly. By an amendment to the Constitution adopted 


200 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


in 1908 the people have power to propose statutes and 
amendments to the Constitution, and to enact or reject the 
same at the polls, and also have power to compel the submis¬ 
sion to the people, for their approval or rejection, of certain 
statutes passed by the Legislature. 

The first of these powers is called the Initiative. Eight 
per cent of the legal voters in two-thirds of the Congressional 
districts in the State may sign a petition asking for the en¬ 
actment of a statute or an amendment to the Constitution, 
in which is set out the full text of the desired statute or 
amendment, and file it with the Secretary of State four 
months before the next general election, and at such election 
the statute or amendment is submitted to the people, to be 
voted on, and if it is approved by a majority of the votes cast 
thereon it becomes a law. 

The second power is the Referendum. Five per cent 
of the legal voters in two-thirds of the Congressional dis¬ 
tricts may sign a petition asking that a certain bill passed 
by the Legislature be submitted to the people for their ap¬ 
proval, and if such petition is filed with the Secretary of 
State within ninety days after the Legislature adjourns, then 
the people vote on it at the next general election and if a ma¬ 
jority of the votes cast thereon are for it, it becomes a law, 
but otherwise it does not become a law. The Legislature 
may itself submit an act passed by it to the people, and fix 
the time of the election at which it is to be voted on, and of 
course it can propose amendments to the Constitution. 
But laws on all subjects cannot be referred to the people. 
Those necessary for the immediate preservation of the public 
peace, health or safety, and appropriation bills to pay the 
current expenses of the State government or to maintain the 
State institutions or to support the public schools, cannot be 
referred to the people. 

The purpose of this amendment was to restore to the 
people an expeditious method of enacting laws which the 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


201 


General Assembly will not enact, and of nullifying an object 
tionable law enacted by it. 

The Referendum has never been used in this State to 
nullify an act passed by the General Assembly, nor has the 
Initiative been used to enact a statute; but the Initiative was 
employed in 1910, when, upon petitions properly signed and 
filed, an amendment to the Constitution, designed to pro¬ 
hibit the manufacture and sale anywhere in the State of 
intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage, was proposed, 
voted upon and defeated. But a modified form of both the 
Initiative and Referendum has long been known in this State. 

Since 1887 the people by a properly signed petition can 
compel the county court to submit to them a proposition to 
adopt the Local Option law in their city or county; and for a 
longer time a dramshop license could not be granted in any 
county except upon a petition signed by a certain per cent 
of the taxpayers. The present law concerning the organiza¬ 
tion of those special road districts which are authorized to 
issue bonds and build permanent roads, cannot be put into 
force until a petition signed by at least fifty resident taxpay¬ 
ing voters is presented to the county court. And likewise a 
petition is necessary for the organization of a drainage or 
levee district. The principle of the Initiative is contained 
in all of these. 

Likewise has the principle of the Referendum, in a mod¬ 
ified form, long been a part of our law. A school district 
cannot issue bonds or incur a debt to build a school house, 
nor can a city issue bonds for any purpose, without referring 
the proposition to the people for their approval; and we have 
seen in section 214, that, when the General Assembly wished 
to borrow money to build a new Capitol, it had to submit the 
proposition to the voters of the State. The Legislature 
since 1875 has had the power to frame an amendment to the 
Constitution, but to have any validity it had to be referred 
to the people and approved by them. The principle .of the 
Referendum is embraced in all these. 


202 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


So neither the Initiative nor the Referendum is wholly 
new to our law. The amendment of 1908 was a long step, 
and whether it will add to the peace and strength, or the dis¬ 
cord and confusion, of society, depends on the way it is used, 
the sense of justice of the people, and their intelligence. 

Questions on Chapter III. 

1. How is the General Assembly composed? (197) 

2. How many Representatives? (198) 

3. How and how often is the ratio obtained? (198) 

4. How many ratios must a county have before it can have two 

Representatives? Before it can have three? (198) 

5. How many inhabitants must a county have before it can have 

two Representatives? (198) 

6. What will be the effect of this rule of apportionment? (198) 

7. What kind of representation is representation in the House? In 

the Senate? (198) 

8. What body fixes Representative districts? (198) 

9. How many Senators? By whom elected? How elected? (199) 

10. Can a county be partly in one district and partly in another? (199) 

11. Who is the presiding officer in the House? And of the Senate? 

Who presides in their absence? (200) 

12. Qualifications of Senators and Representatives: 1, as to age? 

2, as to being a voter? 3, as to residence? 4, as to being 
a taxpayer? (201) 

13. What is the pay of a Senator or Representative? (202) 

14. Can a Senator or Representative hold any other office? (203 

15. When does the General Assembly meet in regular session? In 

extra session? (205) 

16. What subjects may be considered at extra sessions? (205) 

17. At regular sessions? (217) 

18. What general powers has each house? (206) 

19. When may it expel a member? (206) 

20. Can he be twice expelled for the same cause? (206) 

21. Why can he not? (171) 

22. What must a bill receive to become a law? (207) 

23. Suppose the Governor neither veto nor approve it? (207) 

24. Suppose the Legislature adjourn within ten days after a bill 
reaches the Governor? (207) 

.When must the yeas and nays be called, and when may they be? 
(209) 


25. 


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 


203 


26. May bills for raising revenue and appropriation bills originate 

in United States Senate? (210) 

27. Where may they originate in the General Assembly? (210) 

28. Is that the practice in reference to appropriation bills? (210) 

29. How may public money be paid out? (212) 

30. What power has the Governor over appropriation bills contain¬ 

ing several items? (213) 

31. Does the President have that power? (213) 

32. For what purpose may the State contract debts? (214) 

33. Give example. (214) 

34. How is the State’s business to be conducted? (215) 

35. Can a special or local law be passed? (216) 

36. How must all laws apply? (216) 

37. On what subjects may the Legislature make laws? (217) 

38. Could it pass a law abolishing courts? (217) 

39. What is the first question that every legislator, the Governor 

and every higher judge must ask himself? (217) 

40. Why must they ask themselves that question? (217) 

41. What is the next question the legislator or Governor will ask 

himself? (217) 

42. Will the judge ask himself that question? Why? (217) 

43. What is a marked distinction? (217) 

44. When does a law take effect? (218) 

45. For what may certain officers be impeached? (220) 

46. What is an impeachment? (220) 

47. Wheremustimpeachmentsoriginateand where are they tried? (220) 

48. How many does it take to convict? (220) 

49. What important amendment to the Constitution was adopted 

in 1908? (220a) 

50. Can the people enact a law independently of the Legislature? 

How? What is that power called? (220a) 

51. Can the people nullify a bill passed by the Legislature? How? 

What is that power called? (220a) 

52. Has the Referendum ever been employed in this State? Has 

the Initiative? (220a) 

53. When and for what purpose was the Initiative first employed? 

(220a) 

54. Had a modified form of the Initiative and Referendum been 

employed in this State prior to the amendment of 1908? Give 
some examples of such modified use of the Initiative. Of the 
Referendum. (220a) 

55. Will this amendment prove useful or hurtful to society? (220a) 





/. • • 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


205 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

221. General Remarks.—Executive officers of the 
State and Union perform like duties. Their work pertains 
to the same kind of duties. In each case the executive of¬ 
ficer performs some work prescribed by law. But the execu¬ 
tive powers of the State and Union are very differently vested. 
We have seen that the Constitution of the United States says 
that “the executive power shall be vested in the President 
of the United States,” and names no other executive officer. 
All executive power of the United States government is 
vested in him or in other officers under his control and ap¬ 
pointed by him or by other officers who have themselves 
been appointed by him. But our State Constitution says 
that “the executive department shall consist of a Governor, 
Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State 
Treasurer, Attorney-General and Superintendent of Public 
Schools,” and elsewhere it provides that the Legislature may 
create other executive officers for the State, and other execu¬ 
tive officers for the counties, others for townships and others 
for cities and towns, and it prescribes some of the duties of 
all these officers, and then directs that they shall perform 
these duties and such others as may from time to time be 
prescribed by laws passed by the Legislature. 

Thus we see that the Governor does not sustain the same 
relation to the State that the President does to the Union. 
He sustains the same relation to the Legislature in his veto 
power that the President does to Congress; but his relation 
to other executive officers is very different from the Presi¬ 
dent’s. We also see that a State executive officer and a 
National executive officer are very differently related to the 
people. A National executive officer, from the Secretary of 


206 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


State down to the humblest postmaster, is “the President’s 
hand,” over whom he has control, since he is his representa¬ 
tive, and is often by him appointed and can by him be re¬ 
moved, and that power Congress cannot take from him. 
But the Government has very little control over the chief 
executive officers of the State and almost none over those of 
the counties. They are rarely appointed by him, but are 
elected by the people, and in most cases he cannot remove 
them, and has no control over the way they perform their 
official duties unless that power is clearly given to him by law. 
For malfeasance in office, or official corruption, he can sus¬ 
pend one or two of the State officers until the charge is inves¬ 
tigated by the Legislature or the courts, but as a rule all ex¬ 
ecutive officers except those appointed by him are not an¬ 
swerable to him for the way in which they perform their 
official duties. 

222. State Officer.—A State officer is one who per¬ 
forms official duties for the entire State, or a large part of it. 
They are those named in the preceding section, all of whom 
are elected by the people, and certain other officers appointed 
by the Governor, such as Superintendent of Insurance, Bank 
Commissioner, curators of the University, regents of the Nor¬ 
mal schools, and boards of managers of the various penal and 
charity institutions. Besides these, there are the Railroad 
Commissioners, who are elected by the people. All these 
officers in some States are appointed by the Governor, and 
he thereby becomes responsible to the people for their official 
conduct. But in this State, the chief executive officers are 
elected by the people, and hence they are directly respon¬ 
sible to the people for the way they perform their duties^ 

223. The Governor.—The Constitution says that “the 
supreme executive power shall be vested in a chief magistrate 
who shall be styled. The Governor of the State of Missouri,’ ” 
and requires that he “shall take care that the laws are faith- 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


207 


fully executed,” but it does not clearly say how he is to do 
that, and there are few statutes which give him specific au¬ 
thority of that kind. The Constitution does make him 
“conservator of the peace throughout the State,” which 
means that he is not only High Sheriff, but something more 
than that. He is the commander-in-chief of the militia, and 
if a riot occurs, or an insurrection, which cannot be put down 
by the sheriff, he can send the Adjutant-General with so 
much of the National Guard as may be necessary to restore 
order, and if that is not sufficient he can call out the militia, 
that is, the men of military age in the State, and require so 
many of them as may be necessary, to aid the sheriff or Ad¬ 
jutant-General in enforcing the authority of the courts, and 
in putting down mobs and riots and other lawless move¬ 
ments. But he has no control over the courts themselves, 
nor over prosecuting attorneys, nor over grand juries, nor 
over any other county officers except the sheriff, and then 
only when there is such an unusual disturbance that the 
sheriff cannot cope with it. 

His powers may be enumerated about as follows: 

1. He can direct the Attorney-General to assist any 
prosecuting attorney in the discharge of his duties, and 
therein is found his greatest authority in times of peace to 
see that “the laws are faithfully executed.” 

2. He can call out the militia “to execute the laws, sup¬ 
press insurrections and repel invasions.” 

3. He can grant pardons, after conviction, and commute 
sentences to less punishment. 

4. He can call the General Assembly in extra session, 
and in that way, again, he can exert his influence, by message 
and otherwise, in securing the enactment of new laws and in 
inducing the Legislature to provide means for faithfully exe¬ 
cuting existing laws, but he cannot compel the Legislature 
to pass any bill or vote on any proposition. 

5. He can veto bills passed by the Legislature, and 


208 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


then they can become laws only when two-thirds of the mem¬ 
bers elected to each house vote to pass them notwithstanding 
his veto. 

6. When a vacancy in a state or district office occurs 
he fills it by appointment, or if it is an office that can be 
filled only by an election he calls a special election, and he 
fills vacancies in most county offices. 

7. He is yested with power to appoint a few State of¬ 
ficers, such as Bank Commissioner, Superintendent of In¬ 
surance, Adjutant-General, Coil Oil Inspector and Warden 
of the Penitentiary. He appoints the election commission¬ 
ers of St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph, and the police 
commissioners of those cities, except the mayor. He ap¬ 
points the governing boards of all institutions maintained by 
the State, except the Penitentiary, such as the University, 
normal schools, reform schools and asylums. And through 
these appointees he can, if he desires, exert either a useful or 
hurtful influence on politics. 

8. He appoints all notaries public, and issues commis¬ 
sions to all officers unless the law designates some other 
method for commissioning them. 

224. Qualification and Salary.—The Governor must 
be thirty-five years old and must have been a citizen of the 
United States for ten years and a resident of this State for 
seven years before his election. His term of office is four 
years and he cannot be elected twice in succession. Lie re¬ 
ceives a salary of $5,000 per year and lives in the Executive 
Mansion, provided and furnished by the State, which pays 
all the current expenses of his office. 

225. Lieutenant-Governor.—The presiding officer of 
the Senate is the Lieutenant-Governor. He must have the 
same qualifications as to age and residence as the Governor, 
and for his services receives a salary of $1,000 a year, and in 
addition seven dollars for every day he shall actually preside 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


209 


in the Senate. He has no vote in the Senate except when 
Senators are equally divided. In case of a vacancy in the 
office of Governor, he becomes Governor for the residue of 
the term, and during the absence of the Governor from the 
State he also acts as Governor. He may resign or be removed 
by impeachment, as may the Governor, but in case of a va¬ 
cancy in his office no provision is made for filling the vacancy. 

The Senate elects a President pro tempore from its own 
members to preside in case of the absence, resignation or im¬ 
peachment of the Lieutenant-Governor, but this officer does 
not succeed to the office of Lieutenant-Governor in case a 
vacancy occurs in that office. No one does. If the office of 
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor both become vacant for 
any reason, the President of the Senate pro tempore at once 
steps into the office of Governor and holds it until the 
vacancy be filled. If the office of Governor, Lieutenant- 
Governor and President of the Senate pro tempore should all 
become vacant, then the Speaker of the House becomes Gov¬ 
ernor, but he can in no case become Lieutenant-Governor 
or President of the Senate pro tempore. 

226. Secretary of State.—The Secretary of State is 
the custodian of the Great Seal of the State, which is used to 
authenticate many of the official acts of the Governor and 
of the State. In his office are kept all the original laws 
passed by the General Assembly, the publication and distri¬ 
bution of which he superintends. He has authority to say 
what corporation shall be licensed to do business in the 
State, and to such as he finds have complied with the law 
and are undertaking to do a lawful business he issues a cer¬ 
tificate of incorporation, licensing them to carry on that 
business; and he requires all corporations to make an annual 
report to him, showing the amount of their capital, how it is 
invested, and what taxes they have paid. When authorized 
to do so by the Governor, he issues commissions to all officers 

14 


210 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


and notaries public, and to most elective officers, entitling 
them to assume the duties of said offices. He keeps the 
records of all lands belonging to the State, and when they are 
sold issues to the purchaser a patent signed by the Governor. 
He also issues licenses to the owners of automobiles, permit¬ 
ting them to travel on the highways of the State, and sees to 
it that those owners who undertake to use their automobiles 
without such a license are prosecuted. In his office is a 
record of the names of all county and district officers and of 
the time they entered upon their official duties. 

To him the county clerks and city election commissioners 
make returns of the number of votes cast for the various can¬ 
didates for State or district offices at any general election. 
In the presence of the Governor he counts the votes cast for 
Representatives in Congress, judges of the Supreme Court, 
and courts of appeals, and circuit courts, and certifies to the 
Governor the result of his count, and the Governor issues to 
each of those shown by the count to have been elected a com¬ 
mission, which empowers him to take charge of the office. 

He also counts the votes cast for Governor, Lieutenant- 
Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, 
Attorney-General, Superintendent of Public Schools, and 
Railroad Commissioners, and sends the result of his count 
to the Speaker of the House immediately after its organiza¬ 
tion, and then the House and Senate in joint session correct 
any mistakes in the count, and declare who have been elected 
to those offices. 

As the Legislature meets on the first Wednesday after 
the first day of January, and the terms of all these last named 
State officers do not begin until the second Monday of Jan¬ 
uary after their election, the count of the votes for the first 
set of officers above named is made in the presence of the 
retiring Governor, and the count for the second set is re¬ 
viewed by the Legislature, and thus the count in all cases is 
finally determined by an impartial arbiter. 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


211 


227. State Auditor.—The State Auditor apportions 
to each county its share of the State taxes, and settles with 
each county collector for the moneys coming into his hands 
belonging to the State. 

The law determines the rate of taxation for State pur¬ 
poses; that is, how many cents shall be paid on each $100 
valuation, and the valuation is determined by the county 
assessors, the county boards of equalization, and the State 
Board of Equalization, and that is done in this way: The 
county assessor (in some counties, the township assessors) 
fixes a value upon each piece of property in the county, and 
then the county board of equalization determines whether 
that value is just and fair, and changes it accordingly; and 
the State Board of Equalization assesses the value of rail¬ 
roads, street railways and telegraph companies, and adds up 
the valuations made in the various counties, and decreases or 
increases the values fixed by the county boards, so that each 
county may bear its just share. Then the Auditor has a 
basis for determining just what share of the State taxes each 
county shall pay, for each county must pay so many cents 
(say 17) on each hundred dollars of aggregate valuation of 
all the property therein. The county court then levies that 
tax against the property in the county, and the county (or 
township) collector proceeds to collect it, and the money col¬ 
lected for State purposes is sent to the State Treasurer and a 
report of the amount is made to the Auditor. 

The Auditor also issues warrants in payment of salaries 
of State officers, judges of the higher courts, the officers of 
the 23 institutions supported by the State, and to all other 
persons entitled to the State’s moneys. The amount to 
which the various officers and institutions are entitled is de¬ 
termined by appropriation bills passed by the Legislature, 
and those bills are his authority for issuing the warrants, and 
he cannot issue a warrant for any purpose or to any person 
except as the appropriation bills authorize him so to do. 


212 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


Nor can he issue a warrant until there is sufficient money in 
the State Treasury with which to pay it, duly appropriated 
for that specific purpose. He also issues warrants in payment 
of certain costs in felony cases tried in the various courts of 
the State, and he must take care to see that no fee or charge 
of this kind is paid except such as is allowed by law and ap¬ 
proved by the trial judge. 

The Auditor does not have in his custody any of the 
moneys of the State, but the Treasurer can pay out no money 
except on the Auditor’s warrants, and it is the Auditor’s 
duty to issue no warrant for the payfnent of money except 
when he is clearly authorized by law to do so. 

228. The State Treasurer is the custodian of the 
State funds. All moneys belonging to the State are in his 
keeping. He pays the salaries of State officers, of the judges 
of the Supreme Court, circuit courts and courts of appeals, 
and all the other expenses of the State, on warrants drawn on 
him by the Auditor. He is required to give a large bond for 
the faithful performance of his duty. In order that the 
State’s money may not be idle, the Treasurer deposits it, sub¬ 
ject to be drawn out at any time by him, in banks, which pay 
the State a small rate of interest for its use. His term is four 
years and he cannot be elected twice in succession. 

229. Attorney-General.—The Attorney-General is the 
legal adviser of all other State officers. He also represents 
the State in all cases to which it is a party before the Supreme 
Court, and has the authority, in the name of the State, to 
begin and prosecute all suits necessary to protect the rights 
and interests of the State. He can by the great writ of quo 
warranto institute suits against public corporations which 
exercise privileges not given them by law, or in defiance of 
law, and if successful in those suits the courts will punish such 
corporations by heavy fines or by ousting them from doing 
business in the State. He can also by the same writ oust a 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


213 


State or county officer who has not been legally elected to 
office or has obtained the office by corrupt means. 

Owing to the rapid formation in late years of trusts and 
combinations in restraint of trade by corporations of various 
kinds, his office has become one of the most powerful and 
important in the State, for the duty largely falls to him to 
set in motion the machinery of government for breaking up 
such unlawful combinations. 

230. Superintendent of Public Schools.—The du¬ 
ties of this officer are indicated by his title. He is the general 
superintendent of the public school system. He apportions 
among the counties the interest earned by the State School 
Fund and the money apportioned by the General Assembly 
for the support of the public schools. He has authority to 
classify the high schools of the State, into first, second and 
third classes. The statute prescribes the studies to be pur¬ 
sued, the number of teachers and the length of term a high 
school must have and the number of years of high school 
work it must do in order to belong to one of those classes, 
and then he determines what high schools have measured up 
to those requirements, and places each in its proper class, 
and the law says that any student who has completed the 
course of study required of a school of that class shall be given 
full credit therefor as an entrance requirement to any other 
school supported by State money. The State Superintend¬ 
ent can examine teachers and grant them certificates au¬ 
thorizing them to teach in the public schools. He visits 
teachers’ associations and advises with teachers and patrons 
as to the best methods and needed means for improving the 
all-important work of educating the masses. Either he or 
his deputies visit and inspect rural, city and town schools, 
and make suggestions concerning the methods of instruc¬ 
tion, the government of the school and the care of the school 
property. He prepares an annual report showing the num¬ 
ber of teachers and pupils in the public schools of the State, 


214 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


the amount of money paid for teachers and the average 
wages of each, the cost of buildings, and other useful informa¬ 
tion, and is otherwise required to do what he can to elevate 
the standard of education in the public schools. 

231. Salaries and Terms.—All the State officers here¬ 
tofore mentioned in this chapter are elected by the people 
for a term of four years, and all except the Governor and 
Treasurer may be re-elected as their own successors. The 
Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer and Attorney-Gen¬ 
eral receive a salary of $3,000 a year each for performing 
their duties as such officers, and besides they and the Gov¬ 
ernor each receive $5 a day for their services as members of 
the State Board of Equalization, which usually is in session 
ninety days of each year. The Auditor, Treasurer and At¬ 
torney-General also receive $250 each as inspectors of the 
Penitentiary. The Superintendent of Schools receives an 
annual salary of three thousand dollars and is allowed cer¬ 
tain traveling expenses, in visiting teachers’ associations and 
in otherwise performing his official duties. All these officers 
are required to reside at the State capital, and are furnished 
offices by the State, and are provided with assistants paid by 
the State. 

232. Railroad Commissioners.—There are three Rail¬ 
road and Warehouse Commissioners. Their term of office is 
six years, and one is elected every two years. Their duty is 
to see that the railroads obey the laws concerning freight and 
passenger rates. They also have power to fix freight rates, 
but such rates must always be reasonable and just. They 
appoint inspectors in St. Louis and Kansas City to inspect 
and fix the grade of wheat and other grains. Each receives 
a salary of $3,000 a year. 

233. The Insurance Department.—The Superintend¬ 
ent of Insurance is appointed by the Governor, by and with 
the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of four years 
at an annual salary of $3,000. He issues licenses to, and has 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


215 


a general supervision over, all insurance companies permitted 
to do business in this State. He has a right to inspect their 
books to ascertain if they are doing an honest business and 
complying with the laws, and to revoke their licenses if they 
are not, and it is his special duty to see to it that the insur¬ 
ance laws of the State are enforced. The agents or officers 
of any company which has not been licensed by him to do 
business in this State, may, if they undertake to write pol¬ 
icies, be punished in the courts. The office is established for 
the protection of policy-holders, and of honest companies as 
well. 

233a. The Bank Commissioner is appointed by the 
Governor, for a term of four years, and is paid an annual 
salary of $3,500. His duty is to see that the laws relating 
to banks and trust companies are faithfully observed, and 
that no bank does an unsafe or unauthorized business. He 
is assisted by eight bank examiners, and at least once each 
year one of them examines every bank and trust company in 
the State (except national banks), and requires that every 
excessive loan or unlawful investment be corrected. Any fact 
or information an examiner may learn in examining a bank 
he must keep secret, and he is not allowed to reveal the name 
of any person indebted to the bank or make known its pri¬ 
vate accounts or affairs, except in his reports to the commis¬ 
sioner or in court. The purpose of the office, and of these 
examinations and these requirements for secrecy, is to pro¬ 
tect the interests of depositors and stockholders, to better 
the condition of the banks themselves, and to make sure that 
every bank is conducted according to safe and sound methods. 

234. The Labor Commissioner is appointed by the 
Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
for a term of two years, at an annual salary of $2,000. He 
gathers statistics concerning the wages paid laborers in mines, 
on railroads, and in factories, and also statistics concerning 
the resources and products of the State, and publishes re- 


216 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


ports containing such of these statistics as he may deem of 
interest to the public. He also conducts a free public em¬ 
ployment bureau in Kansas City and St. Louis, for the pur¬ 
pose of receiving applications of persons seeking employment, 
and applications of persons desirous of employing laborers, 
and assists laborers in obtaining employment. 

234a. The Food and Drug Commissioner, appoint¬ 
ed by the Governor, for a term of four years, at an annual 
salary of $2,000, and assisted by chemists and inspectors, is 
charged with the duty of enforcing the pure food laws, which 
prohibit any person to manufacture or sell in this State any 
article of impure, unhealthful, adulterated or misbranded 
food or drug, and require every building and place used for 
the manufacture or sale of any article of food to be kept 
scrupulously clean and healthful. 

235. The State Board of Equalization.—The mem¬ 
bers of this board are the Governor, Secretary of State, Au¬ 
ditor, Treasurer and Attorney-General. The board meets 
once a year and equalizes the tax assessments of the various 
counties. It sometimes happens that property in one county 
is assessed at its real value, while in others it is assessed at 
much less. This is manifestly unfair. Each county should 
bear its proportionate share of the taxes to be raised for the 
support of the State government. But if the assessments 
made by the counties were permitted to stand some counties 
would thereby relieve themselves of a part of their share of 
this burden. To prevent this wrong the Board of Equaliza¬ 
tion raises the assessment of some counties and lowers that 
of others, and each county is bound by its action. Its duty 
in such case is to equalize the assessments made by the va¬ 
rious counties, not to materially increase or decrease the 
aggregate amount of those assessments. The State board 
also has power to assess the properties of railroads, telegraph 
companies, and other public service corporations. 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


217 


236. National Guard.—^The commander-in-chief of 
the Missouri National Guard is the Governor, and the chief 
member of his staff is the Adjutant-General, who is appointed 
by him, and has charge of the records and rolls. The Na¬ 
tional Guard consists of male persons between the ages of 
eighteen and forty-five years, who have voluntarily enlisted 
for any military duty that may be required of them by the 
Governor. Companies of the National Guard are found in 
various parts of the State. They are usually spoken of as 
the militia. At proper intervals they are trained for mili¬ 
tary service. Once a year all the companies meet in a gen¬ 
eral encampment. They can be called into the field by the 
Governor to suppress insurrection or invasions or riots or 
tumults or mobs too powerful to be suppressed by the local 
authorities. 

Under the law all able-bodied males between the ages of 
eighteen and forty-five years are liable to military duty, and 
to be enlisted for military service whenever the National 
Guard is inadequate to enable the Governor to execute the 
laws, except such persons as have conscientious scruples 
against bearing arms, and these may be excused when sum¬ 
moned for duty by paying into the military fund fifteen dol¬ 
lars per month. Under a late law of Congress the guns for 
the use of the National Guard may be furnished by the Sec¬ 
retary of War, and thus the National Guard of every State 
may have the same kind of guns. The expense of the annual 
encampment may be paid in the same way. When a na¬ 
tional war comes on the regular army is first ordered into serv¬ 
ice; if that is not sufficient, the President calls on the Gov¬ 
ernor of each State for so much of its National Guard as may 
be needed; and if that is not sufficient, other persons of mili¬ 
tary age are enrolled as State militia or as volunteer soldiers. 

237. Other State Boards.—There are various State 
boards to look after various interests in which the public is 
especially concerned. Among them are: 


218 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


1. The Board of Health, whose duty it is to establish 
and enforce regulations to prevent the spread of infectious 
and contagious diseases, and for that purpose it has very 
extensive powers. It alone has power to license physicians 
and surgeons to practice medicine or surgery, and at stated 
times it conducts examinations to test the qualifications of 
persons desiring such licenses. 

2. A Board of Pharmacy, which examines and licenses 
persons who desire to become druggists. 

3. There is also a like board for examining and licens¬ 
ing dentists. 

4. A board for the examination of barbers, by which 

all persons desiring to pursue the occupation of barber in 
cities of 5,000 inhabitants or over must be licensed before 
they can do so. ^ 

5. A State Board of Charities, whose duty it is to ex¬ 
amine into the condition and management of all prisons, jails, 
hospitals, reformatories, reform and industrial schools, or¬ 
phanages and all public and private retreats which derive 
their support wholly or in part from the State or from any 
county or city in the State, and make a full report to the 
Governor showing their actual condition. 

All of these boards are created either for the protection 
of the general health of the people, or for the benefit of those 
unfortunate persons whose welfare should always be of 
especial concern to the State. 

6. There is the Bureau of Mines and Mine Inspection, 
connected with which are mine inspectors, whose duty it is 
to inspect coal, lead and zinc mines employing ten miners or 
more, and enforce the laws requiring a sufficient amount of 
fresh air and proper ventilation in mines, that they be safely 
timbered and braced, that ores be honestly weighed, and 
that all reasonable precautions be taken to protect the lives 
and health of miners. 

7. There is also a Bureau of Geology and Mines, whose 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


219 


special duty is to aid in the discovery and development of 
valuable minerals. 

The members of all the boards so far mentioned are ap¬ 
pointed by the Governor. 

8. There is also a Board of Education, consisting of the 
Superintendent of Public Schools, the Governor, the Secre¬ 
tary of State and the Attorney-General, to direct the invest¬ 
ment of the Public School fund, and the distribution of the 
annual income of any school fund, and to look after all 
swamp lands belonging to the State and their sale. 

9. There is also a Board of Fund Commissioners, con¬ 
sisting of the Governor, Auditor, Treasurer and Attorney- 
General, to direct the payment of the State debt and interest 
thereon, and the issue of new bonds or certificates of indebt¬ 
edness in lieu of such bonds, when so directed by law, and to 
see that such certificates are safely kept. 

238. Other Officers.—There are also other State of¬ 
ficers, appointed either by the Governor or some one of the 
boards mentioned in the preceding section. They are, 1, 
the State Geologist, whose duty it is to make surveys of min¬ 
eral deposits, and publish information of the character and 
quantity of such mineral ores; 2, the Supervisor of Building 
and Loan Associations, whose duty it is, by examination and 
from reports made by the companies, to see that all building 
and loan associations in the State conduct their business in 
a safe way and as authorized by law; 3, a Beer Inspector, to 
see that beers are made of certain substances and no others, 
that they meet certain tests, and collect fees for such inspec¬ 
tion, and turn them over to the State Treasurer; 4, a Game 
and Fish Commissioner for protecting game and fish. 

The amount of fees collected by the Beer Inspector for 
inspecting beer, and by the Secretary of State for licensing 
corporations to do business in this State, and from notaries 
public for their commissions, and by the Superintendent of 
Insurance for licensing insurance companies to do business in 


220 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


the State, etc., amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars 
each year, and add that much to the State revenues. 

239. State Institutions.—There are 23 institutions 
supported by the State. They are of four kinds, educational, 
penal, eleemosynary or charitable, and agricultural. 

1. The educational institutions are the State Univer¬ 
sity, at Columbia; the five Normals, for the education of 
teachers, located at Kirksville, Warrensburg, Cape Girar¬ 
deau, Springfield and Maryville; the School of Mines and 
Metallurgy, at Rolla, whose students study mining engineer¬ 
ing and the properties and value of mineral ores; and the 
Normal for the education of negroes, called Lincoln Institute, 
located at Jefferson City. 

2. The eleemosynary or charitable institutions are the 
School for the Deaf, at Fulton; the School for the Blind, at 
St. Louis; four sanitariums, or Hospitals for the Insane, lo¬ 
cated at Fulton, St. Joseph, Nevada and Farmington; the 
Missouri Sanitarium, at Mount Vernon, for the treatment of 
consumption or tuberculosis in its early stages; the Colony 
for the Feeble-Minded, at Marshall, where feeble-minded 
and harmless epileptics may receive humane care; the Con¬ 
federate Home, at Higginsville, where infirm and dependent 
ex-Confederate soldiers, their wives, widows and orphans 
may be maintained and cared for; the Federal Soldiers’ 
Home, at St. James, where discharged Federal soldiers, who 
are in indigent circumstances, or are, because of any disabil¬ 
ity, unable to support themselves, and the aged wife of any 
such soldier, or any army nurse in like circumstances, may be 
maintained and cared for; the Missouri Training School for 
Boys, at Boonville, where boys convicted of crime, as well as 
incorrigible boys, may be sent and taught to work and be 
obedient to authority; and the Industrial Home for Girls, at 
Chillicothe, where girls convicted of crime, or incorrigible 
girls, may be restrained and taught useful work and obedi¬ 
ence. These last two institutions were originally penal in- 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


221 


stitutions, but the Legislature, out of a humane desire to save 
and reform boys and girls convicted of crime or criminally 
inclined, has classed them as eleemosynary. 

3. The penal institution is the Penitentiary, at Jeffer¬ 
son City, where adult persons convicted of felonies may, 
according to the judgments of courts, be imprisoned for a 
term of years. 

4. The agricultural institutions are the State Fair, at 
Sedalia, which gives public exhibitions of stock and agricul¬ 
tural products, and the Fruit Experiment Station, at Moun¬ 
tain Grove, for experimenting with the different kinds of 
fruits and ascertaining what varieties are best adapted to 
the soil and climate of this State, and to study the different 
diseases and insects which infest fruits, and to suggest rem¬ 
edies Jor their extermination. 

All these institutions are governed by boards appointed 
by the Governor, except the Penitentiary, whose warden is 
appointed by the Governor, but whose contracts for the em¬ 
ployment of the convicts in the prison factories are super¬ 
vised by a board of inspectors, consisting of the Auditor, 
Treasurer and Attorney-General. These 23 institutions cost 
the State more than two million dollars each year. But the 
civilization of a people has no higher test than the way in 
which they care for their unfortunates; and these institu¬ 
tions for the blind, the deaf, the insane, the feeble-minded, 
the worn-out soldiers, the wayward boys and girls, are all a 
standing glory to the humane purposes of our State govern¬ 
ment—almost as much so as the University, the Normal 
schools, and other educational institutions. 

240. General Powers of Executive Officers.—All 
the officers and boards discussed in this chapter are a part of 
the executive departments of the State government. What¬ 
ever power they exercise must be clearly given them by law, 
and whatever duties they perform are specifically prescribed 
by law. Their duty is to execute the will of the people as 


222 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


that will is expressed in laws passed by the Legislature. It is 
not for them to say that the laws are unwise or unneeded; the 
need for the laws and their wisdom are determined by the 
Legislature. Nor are they to act blindly or heedlessly in 
performing the work assigned them, for if the law is of doubt¬ 
ful meaning, it is for the courts to tell them what it means, 
and direct them how to comply with it. 

241. Other Executive Officers. —But they are not all 
the executive officers of the State; they are the principal ex¬ 
ecutive officers whose whole compensation is paid out of the 
State Treasury. There are other executive officers for 
counties, and still others for cities and towns, and their du¬ 
ties will be explained in other chapters, but those mentioned 
in this chapter perform duties for the entire State or for a 
considerable part of it, just as county executive officers per¬ 
form duties for the whole county, and city officers for the 
whole or a part of the city. So we call them State officers, 
because, in their respective spheres, they act for the whole 
State. 

Questions on Chapter IV. 

1. Do executive officers of the State and Union perform like duties? 

( 221 ) 

2. How are the executive powers of the Union vested? (221) 

3. Of whom does the executive department of the State consist? (221) 

4. Does the Governor sustain the same relation to the State that 

the President does to the Union? (221) 

5. Do State and national executive officers sustain the same rela¬ 

tion to the people? (221) 

6. Explain the difference. (221) 

7. What is a State officer? (222) 

8. Name some of them. (222) 

9. In whom is the supreme executive power vested? (223) 

10. What is he required to do? (223) 

11. Do the Constitution or the statutes clearly say how he is to do 

that? (223) 

12. What does the State Constitution make him? (223) 

13. What relation does he sustain to the militia? (223) 

14. Has he any control over courts? (223) 


THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


223 ’ 


15. Enumerate some of his powers. (223) 

16. What qualifications must he possess? (224) 

17. What is his salary? (224) 

18. What is said of the Lieutenant-Governor? (225) 

19. In case of a vacancy in his office, who succeeds to it? (225) 

20. What are some of the duties of Secretary of State? (226) 

21. How are the votes cast for Representative, etc., counted and 

determined? (226) 

22. How those for Governor, etc.? (226) 

23. Is the count in all cases finally determined by an impartial ar¬ 

biter? (226) 

24. What duties does the Secretary of State perform towards banks 

and trust companies? (226) 

25. What are some of the duties of the State Auditor? (227) 

26. Describe how the State taxes areassessed, levied and collected. (227) 

27. What does the Auditor have to do with warrants? (227) 

28. How is the amount of money to each determined? (227) 

29. When can he not issue a warrant? (227) 

30. Who is custodian of the State’s moneys? (228) 

31. Name some of his duties? (228) 

32. What are the duties of the Attorney-General? (229) 

33. What can he do by quo warranto} (229) 

34. Why has his office become so important? (229) 

35. Name some of the duties of Superintendent of Schools? (230) 

36. What are the salaries and terms of these various officers? (231) 
'37. What are the duties of Railroad Commissioners? (232) 

38. What great power have they? (232) 

39. What are the duties of Superintendent of Insurance? (233) 

40. Can any company do business without a license? (233) 

41. What labors are performed by the Labor Commissioner? (234) 

42. What duties are performed by State Board of Equalization? (235) 

43. What is said of the National Guard? (236) 

44. Name some of the other State boards. (237) 

45. Name some of the other State officers. (238) 

46. Name the four classes of State institutions. (239) 

47. What are the educational institutions? (239) 

48. What are the eleemosynary institutions? (239) 

49. What is a high test of the civilization of a people? (239) 

50. What then are these charitable institutions? (239) 

51. What are the officers and boards mentioned in this chapter? (240) 

52. What powers may an executive officer exercise? (240) 

53. Are there other executive officers? (241) 


224 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


CHAPTER V. 

THE COURTS. 

242. General Statement.—The judicial department 
of government consists of the courts. The courts of the 
State are the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, circuit courts, 
criminal courts, probate courts, and courts of justices of the 
peace. The county court, being largely an administrative 
or executive body for transacting the business of a county, 
will not be considered in this chapter, but will be in the chap¬ 
ter on “Counties.” The courts considered in this chapter 
have been established for the enforcement and the adminis¬ 
tration of the law. 

243. Kinds of Law.—Laws are broadly divided into 
two classes. Criminal Law and Civil Law. Civil Law is 
again divided into Common Law and Statutory Law and 
Equity Law; and Criminal Law may consist of the Common 
Law or Statutes or both. 

1. The Common Law concerns such things as ordinary 
promissory notes, deeds to lands, and other contracts and the 
breach of such contracts, and wrongs done to one’s property 
or person. For generations in America and England certain 
rules have been gradually agreed upon by all men as being 
right for conducting business. These rules have been en¬ 
forced by the courts until they have become a great system 
of principles, and are called the Common Law. This law is 
not found in the acts passed by the Legislature, but in books 
written by able lawyers and in the published opinions of the 
highest courts. 

2. Statutory Law consists of laws passed by the Leg¬ 
islature and such laws are called statutes. These sometimes 
supplant the Common Law principles, but the Common Law, 


THE COURTS. 


225 


until replaced by statutes, is binding upon all men, because 
the Common Law, until so changed, is by our statutes de¬ 
clared to be in force in this State. 

For the enforcement of the Common Law or the Statu¬ 
tory Law there are a judge and a jury, and at the trial the 
points to be decided are such as. Was the contract made, and 
what are its terms? or. Admitting the contract has been made 
and broken, what are the damages? But the judge alone 
tries a few kinds of such cases: as divorces, for instance; and 
in other Common Law cases both sides may mutually agree 
to waive a jury, but if either party demands a jury it cannot 
be denied him. 

3. But sometimes the enforcement of a contract would 
work a wrong. The contract may have been obtained 
through fraud or mistake; some kind of deceit or fraud by 
one party may have induced the other to enter into it, and 
then justice and good morals suggest that it ought to be set 
aside and not enforced against the party thus cheated. It is 
just at this point that Equity Law steps in. It was created 
to give relief against the rigid exactions of the Civil Law, 
when the enforcement of that law would work a wrong. 
Equity cases are tried by a judge alone; no jury assists him. 

4. Criminal Law relates to crimes. It usually con¬ 
sists of the statutes, or laws passed by the Legislature. Crimes 
are divided into two classes. They are misdemeanors and 
felonies. A misdemeanor is a lower grade of crime and is 
punishable by fine or imprisonment in jail or calaboose. Only 
a jury and a justice or judge is required to try a misdemean¬ 
or, although a grand jury may indict a person for a misde¬ 
meanor. A felony is a higher grade of crime and is punish¬ 
able by imprisonment in the penitentiary, or death. Prior 
to 1900 no one could be tried for a felony until he had been 
indicted by a grand jury, but now prosecutions in a felony 
case may be begun on an information filed by the prosecuting 

15 


226 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


attorney, or on an indictment presented by a grand jury. If 
begun in either way, the case is tried by a judge and a jury 
of twelve men. 

244. Justices of the Peace.—In each municipal town¬ 
ship of each county there is at least one justice of the peace, 
and often more than one. He is sometimes called a magis¬ 
trate and often a squire. He is a conservator of the peace 
for his township. These courts have been established in 
order that the people may have a court right in their midst 
in which to settle their smaller disputes, and in which the 
wheels of government may be speedily set in motion in case 
a crime has been committed. 

If a constable, sheriff or policeman sees a person com¬ 
mitting a crime he may arrest him on the spot, without wait¬ 
ing for a warrant; and then, after his arrest, a complaint is 
filed against him with the justice before whom he is taken, 
and a warrant is then issued. This is the rule as to misde¬ 
meanors. But if he has committed a felony he may be 
arrested before the warrant is issued, whether he was seen 
committing the crime or not. But that is not usually done; 
it is done only when his immediate arrest seems necessary 
to prevent his escape. Otherwise he is not arrested until 
after the warrant is issued, unless he is seen committing the 
crime. 

If the prosecution is begun in the circuit court, the 
warrant is issued by the circuit clerk, and the arrest is made 
by the sheriff. But usually the warrant is issued by a jus¬ 
tice of the peace. He can issue it only when some one files 
a complaint with him, under oath, charging a certain person 
with having committed a specific crime, and then he must 
issue a warrant for that person’s arrest, and that complaint 
may be made by any private person or by the prosecuting 
attorney or by any officer. If the crime which the complaint 
charges the accused person with having committed is a 
misdemeanor, he may have his trial at once or in a short 


THE COURTS. 


227 


time by a jury before the justice. But if the crime charged 
against him is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the 
penitentiary he cannot be tried in the magistrate’s court, but 
the justice requires him to give bond to appear for trial at 
the next term of the circuit or criminal court of the county, 
and if he cannot give bond he is committed to jail to await 
his trial. 

If the complaint charges a crime punishable with death, 
such as murder or robbing a railroad train, the justice, if the 
accused wishes it, gives him a “preliminary hearing,” not for 
the purpose of determining his guilt, but for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether or not there is such probability of his 
guilt of a less offense than that charged as will entitle him to 
bail. If the “proof is evident or the presumption great” that 
he has committed the capital offense with which he is charged, 
the justice will not admit him to bail, but will commit him 
to jail to await the action of the grand jury at the next term 
of the circuit or criminal court, or to meet any charge which 
the prosecuting attorney may have lodged against him. 

Civil suits involving any sum less than $250 may be 
brought in a justice’s court, and suits involving less than $50 
must be begun there. Suits to dispossess a tenant who will 
not pay his rent, and suits to dislodge a person who has 
wrongfully taken possession of another’s house or lands (if 
the title is not involved), may also be brought in a magis¬ 
trate’s court. And prosecutions for misdemeanors may be 
begun either in the circuit or criminal court or the magis¬ 
trate’s court. But an equity case cannot be tried in a jus¬ 
tice’s court, nor can the justice alone decide any civil case 
unless both sides agree that he may. All cases tried in a 
magistrate’s court may be determined by a jury of six men, 
who pass upon the law and the evidence as they understand 
them, without any instructions from the justice. The law 
is read to them by the lawyers who represent the different 
sides, and as the jury are liable to misconstrue the law where 


228 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


it is not plain and easily understood, only cases involving 
plain and simple issues are tried in magistrate courts. 

The finding of the jury is called a verdict, which is ex¬ 
pressed in a small piece of writing signed by one of their num¬ 
ber who has by them been chosen foreman, thus: “We, the 
jury, find the defendant guilty, and assess his punishment at 
six months’ imprisonment in the county jail. John Smith, 
foreman;’’ or, “We, the jury, find for plaintiff, and assess his 
damages at forty dollars. John Smith, foreman.’’ 

If the case is a criminal one all the jury must agree upon 
the verdict; if it is a civil case, that is, a suit involving a right 
to property, two-thirds of the jury (or four jurors) may make 
a verdict. If the case is a civil one, either party dissatisfied 
with the verdict may appeal to the circuit court, by giving 
bond, and in that court the case is tried anew just as if it had 
been originally begun there. If the case is a criminal one and 
the verdict is in favor of the defendant, there can be no ap¬ 
peal, nor can he ever be tried for that crime again, for when¬ 
ever a verdict of “not guilty’’ is reached in any case in any 
court which had power to try it, that is the end of it. If, 
however, the verdict is against the defendant, he may ap¬ 
peal to the circuit or criminal court of the county, and there 
the case is tried anew. 

The justice is not paid a salary. He is allowed certain 
fees in the cases brought before him which are taxed as costs, 
and the constable and jury are paid in the same way. 

245. Constables.—In each township there is a con¬ 
stable, who is the executive officer of the court of the justice 
of the peace. It is his duty to make arrests on warrants 
issued by the justice if the accused party can be found in 
his county; to serve the summons on the defendant in civil 
cases; to impanel juries and summon witnesses for a trial; 
and after the trial he collects the amount of the judgment, 
or debt, from the losing party by seizing and publicly selling 
his property, if any property he has in excess of what the law 


THE COURTS. 


229 


says shall not be sold to pay his debts. If the case is a crim¬ 
inal one, and the judgment of the justice’s court is that the 
accused be lodged in jail, it is the constable’s duty to take 
him in charge and turn him over to the jailer. Thus, it is 
the duty of a constable to enforce the judgments of the jus¬ 
tice’s court, and hence he.is the executive officer of that court. 

246. Probate Courts.—In each county in the State 
there is one probate judge, whose court is concerned in set¬ 
tling the estates of deceased persons and appointing guard¬ 
ians and curators to care for the persons and manage the 
estates of orphaned minors and lunatics. In some States this 
court is called the Orphan’s Court. 

When one dies his debts must be paid. All his prop¬ 
erty, except about four hundred dollars worth for his widow 
and a part of the family furniture and one year’s provisions 
for the support of the family and the homestead which he 
owned and in which he lived, is liable for the payment of his 
debts, and his children can have nothing until these are paid. 
If the person left no will, the court appoints some one, de¬ 
nominated an administrator, to take charge of the estate 
and settle up its debts and turn the residue over to the heirs, 
but for this purpose no land can be sold if the personal estate 
is sufficient to pay the debts. If the deceased person left a 
will, it usually names someone that he desires to administer 
his estate. Such person is called an executor, and in admin¬ 
istering the estate he must obey the instructions of the will, 
except that the will cannot deprive the widow of her dower 
or homestead, nor defeat the payment of the debts of the 
deceased. If a claim against the estate of a deceased per¬ 
son is disputed by the administrator, the probate judge may 
call a jury to decide the point, and from its verdict either 
party may appeal to the circuit court, where the case is 
tried again. 

When the administrator or executor has fully admin¬ 
istered the estate, that is, turned so much of it into money as 


230 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


is sufficient to pay the debts and paid those debts, he offers 
to the court an exhibit of all moneys he has received and paid 
out. This is called his final settlement, and if approved by 
the judge, he is discharged, and the estate goes to the heirs 
or legatees. But if any of the heirs are not satisfied with 
the conduct of the administrator they can appeal to the cir¬ 
cuit court to redress the wrong done. 

247. Circuit Courts.—The circuit courts are the great 
trial courts of this State. In them can be tried every kind 
of case—civil, equity, and, in counties where there is not a 
separate criminal court, criminal cases also. One or more 
sessions of the circuit court are held in each county each 
year. These courts exercise a superintending control over 
criminal courts, probate courts, county courts, justices of the 
peace, and all other inferior courts. The State is divided 
into thirty-six circuits. In each an officer, styled the circuit 
judge, is elected for a term of six years to preside over these 
courts, and in some of the circuits, like St. Louis, and Jack- 
son county, Jasper county and Buchanan county, there is 
more than one judge, the number being increased by the 
Legislature as the amount of litigation may require. 

248. Criminal Courts.—In counties having over 
40,000 inhabitants there may be a separate court for the 
trial of criminal cases. It is called a criminal court and is 
presided over by a criminal judge. But in nearly all smaller 
counties such cases are tried in the circuit court. There is a 
criminal court in Jackson, Greene and Buchanan counties, 
but in St. Louis two of the circuit judges are assigned to pre¬ 
side over the criminal division of the circuit court. In St. 
Louis and Kansas City there is also a “juvenile court” to try 
“neglected and delinquent children” who are charged with 
crimes or are likely to become criminals unless sent to a re¬ 
form school. There is also a criminal court for Saline and 
Lafayette counties. In all other parts of the State criminal 
cases are tried in the circuit court. 


THE COURTS 


231 



GLOBE E. & E. CO., CHICAGO 


The General Assembly at its session has divided [the State into~thirty-six circuits, by 
number, as shown by the above map. 


























































































































232 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


249. Qualifications and Salary.—The circuit judge 
must be learned in the law, at least thirty years of age, a 
citizen of the United States for five years, and a qualified 
voter of this State for three years next before his election or 
appointment. Each circuit judge receives annually from the 
State $2,000 as salary. Besides, if his circuit embraces more 
than one county, he receives $1,200 for traveling and other 
expenses. In St. Louis this salary is raised by the city to 
$5,500, and in Jackson county to $3,500 and in Buchanan to 
$3,000 by the county. If a vacancy occurs in the office the 
Governor appoints some one to serve until the next regular 
election, when the people elect a judge to fill out the un¬ 
expired part of the term. 

250. Assistants.—In each county there is a circuit 
clerk, and a sheriff, to assist the judge in holding court. And 
at least once a year there is a grand jury of twelve men to 
investigate charges and present indictments against persons 
they may believe guilty of crime; and there is a petit jury to 
hear the evidence and render verdicts in both civil and crim¬ 
inal cases, and a prosecuting attorney to prosecute violators 
of the law. The judge is also assisted by members of the 
bar, or licensed lawyers, who represent litigants and present 
to the court the causes they wish determined. 

251. The Grand Jury.—The grand jury consists of 
twelve men and is chosen by the county court or by the 
sheriff, as the judge of the circuit may order, and as nearly as 
possible jurors are taken from each township in the county, 
the number taken from each depending on the number of its 
inhabitants as compared to that of the whole county. It is 
a secret body and all of its members are sworn never to di¬ 
vulge any of its proceedings. Nine of its members can find 
a “true bill.” Its duty is to investigate, “without hatred, 
malice, fear, favor, or affection,” any crime that has been 
committed in the county, and for this purpose it can send 
for witnesses in any part of the State. 


THE COURTS. 


233 


Prior to the amendment of the Constitution of 1900, a 
grand jury was a necessary part of every regular term of a 
criminal or circuit court, and no person accused of a felony 
could be prosecuted except on an indictment found by the 
grand jury, but by that amendment no grand jury can now 
convene except when ordered by the judge, but he is required 
to convene it at least once each year. And at the same time 
it was provided that prosecutions of felonies might be begun 
by an information filed by the prosecuting attorney, as well 
as by an indictment found by a grand jury. This amend¬ 
ment, therefore, renders a grand jury of less importance in 
the punishment of criminals, but very much increases the 
responsibilities of the prosecuting attorney. The enforce¬ 
ment of criminal laws is by it made largely dependent upon 
him. He can file an information against whom he pleases, 
prosecute or dismiss any criminal case according to his own 
judgment, and no one can compel him to do otherwise. This 
amendment has made him the most important officer in the 
county, and puts upon the people the duty of selecting the 
best man to be had for that office. 

252. Petit Jury.—The petit jury is the trial jury. In 
the more important civil suits and in felony cases it consists 
of twelve men; in misdemeanor cases and in suits involving 
small amounts of money it may consist of six men. The 
jurors are chosen from a panel of impartial men. A regular 
panel of twenty-four men is selected for each term of the 
circuit court by the county court from the various town¬ 
ships of the county. Out of this panel a jury is chosen for 
the trial of most cases tried at the next term of the circuit 
court. For instance, if the case is a suit for land, the jury 
must consist of twelve impartial men. To obtain that jury, 
eighteen men on the regular panel are first called to the jury- 
box. If any of them are absent, the sheriff must fill their 
places from the other six or from by-standers; then all of 
them are examined for the purpose of ascertaining whether 


234 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


they can give each side a fair and impartial trial, and if any 
of them cannot they are rejected and other men who will are 
substituted for them. Eighteen impartial men having thus 
been found, a list of their names is made up, and from that 
list each side strikes off three and the twelve remaining con¬ 
stitute the petit or trial jury for that case. In this way the 
trial jury is usually selected for the trial of each civil and 
some felony cases. 

But if the accused may be punished by imprisonment 
for life, the panel consists of thirty men. If he is charged 
with murder, the jury will be made up from a special panel 
of forty-seven men in counties having one hundred thousand 
people, and in counties of less population the panel consists 
of forty men. The county court has nothing to do with 
selecting that panel, but it is summoned by the sheriff on an 
order by the trial judge. He orders the sheriff to summon 
fifty or sixty or seventy men—such number as he deems 
sufficient to get a full panel from. The men thus summoned 
are called the venire (pronounced, ve-ni-re). From them the 
panel is chosen, and from the panel the jury to try the case 
is chosen. If the panel consists of forty-seven men, the 
prosecuting attorney strikes fifteen names from the panel, 
and the defendant twenty; if it consists of forty men, the 
prosecuting attorney strikes off eight names, and the defend¬ 
ant twenty—thus, in either case, the names of twelve men 
remain, who constitute the trial jury. 

Formerly it was necessary for all the jury to agree to 
the verdict in any kind of case; now, if three-fourths of them 
agree upon a verdict in a civil case tried in the circuit court, 
and two-thirds agree upon a verdict in a civil case tried 
before a justice of the peace, that verdict is as binding as if 
every juror had agreed to it. But in criminal cases, it is 
still necessary that every member of the jury agree to the 
verdict; in such case, it must be the unanimous verdict of all. 
If the verdict is that the defendant is not “guilty” that is the 


THE COURTS. 


235 


end of the case; it cannot be appealed, nor can the defendant 
ever again be put on trial for the same offense. 

253. Trial by Jury.—‘ ‘Trial by a jury of one’s peers” 
has been the pride of the English-speaking race for seven 
hundred years; and its hold upon the people, as the fairest 
and best method of administering the law, has strengthened 
with the centuries. One of its chief merits is that it puts 
upon the people of the community the duty and responsibil¬ 
ity for settling disputes and punishing crime. Jury ver¬ 
dicts sometimes indicate a low moral sense in the community, 
and are a disappointment to lovers of good order and fair¬ 
ness, but that is true of every other system of jurisprudence 
ever devised. The remedy in such cases is for the public 
to hold in scorn the juror who has failed to do his sworn duty, 
and to use the slow process of education in elevating the 
moral sense of the people until they are fixed in their deter¬ 
mination that jurors must always be just, fair, honest, and 
brave to do the right. 

254. A Civil Trial.—A trial, as defined in the statute, 
“is the judicial examination of the issues between the parties, 
whether they be issues of law or of fact.” The party bring¬ 
ing the suit is styled the plaintiff, and the party against 
whom it is brought, the defendant. The first step in a civil 
case is the filing with the clerk of a paper called the petition, 
which sets forth the plaintiff’s claim or cause of action. Then 
the clerk issues a summons to the defendant to come into 
court and make defense. A copy of this summons is deliv¬ 
ered to the defendant by the sheriff. He appears by his at¬ 
torney and files a paper of his own, called an answer to plain¬ 
tiff’s petition. Then a jury is impaneled, if it is purely a law 
case and either party demands a jury. The plaintiff first 
introduces witnesses to support his claim and then the de¬ 
fendant witnesses to uphold his side. Then the judge in¬ 
structs the jury as to what is the law governing the point at 


236 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


issue, the lawyers make arguments for their respective clients, 
the jury retire and make up their verdict, and this is formally 
entered in the records of the court, and is made the basis of 
the judgment, which is the final determination of the 
rights of the parties to the action. After this is entered on 
the records of the court, an execution, or written order, is 
issued, directed to the sheriff, commanding him to find, if 
possible, enough of the property of the losing party to pay 
the judgment. The sheriff seizes such property, if it is such 
as can be seized for debt, sells it at public auction, and turns 
the proceeds over to the party who was successful at the 
trial. If it is an equity cause the proceedings are exactly 
the same, except the cause is submitted to the judge alone, 
instead of to the jury. 

255. A Criminal Trial.—In a criminal case the plain¬ 
tiff is the State and its lawyer is the prosecuting attorney. 
The first paper filed in such a case is an indictment presented 
by the grand jury, or an information filed by the prosecuting 
attorney. When either is filed, the clerk issues a summons 
to the sheriff to arrest the accused, unless he has previously 
been arrested. If this is, or has been done, the prisoner is 
brought into court, a jury sworn to try the cause, the indict¬ 
ment read, witnesses are introduced by the prosecuting at¬ 
torney to show that the indictment is true, and by the de¬ 
fendant’s attorney to show that it is not true; the court 
instructs the jury, the lawyers make their arguments, and 
the jury retire and either find the defendant “not guilty” or 
“guilty” and assess his punishment. If the verdict is “guilty” 
he is sentenced by the judge, and the sheriff takes him in 
custody and sees that the sentence of the court is carried out. 

In the United States courts the jury do not fix the pun¬ 
ishments of persons they find guilty of crimes, but that is 
done by the judge. But in the State courts the jury fix the 
punishment in all cases, except in the police courts, where, 
unless a jury is demanded, the police judge fixes it. When 


THE COURTS. 


237 


the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first 
degree the jury may now fix his punishment at death or life 
imprisonment. 

256. Instructions to the jury in State courts are al¬ 
ways written. In criminal cases tried in the United States 
courts they are given to them by the judge in an oral charge. 
In either case, they embrace the law by which the jury are 
to be guided in making up their verdict. It is the province 
of the judge to tell the jury what is the law applicable to the 
case, and every juror must take an oath before he is per¬ 
mitted to become a juror that he will decide the case accord¬ 
ing to the law as thus declared to him in the instructions. He 
cannot be true to his oath and do otherwise. The court 
tells the jury that, if they find from the evidence certain facts 
to exist, their verdict must be for plaintiff, and if they 
find from the evidence certain other facts to be true, their 
verdict must be for defendant. In so charging the jury 
the court necessarily tells them what is the law by which 
they are to be guided. This is the rule in all cases tried in 
the circuit or criminal courts; but in the courts of justices of 
the peace there are no instructions, and the jury there must 
ascertain for themselves what is the law applicable to the 
case, and this is usually read to them from law books. 

257. Appeals.—The decision reached in a trial court 
is called a judgment. That judgment, if not appealed from, 
is binding on the whole world and can never be set aside 
unless fraud was committed in the very act of procuring it. 
It is the end of the suit. But all cases tried in the circuit 
court or criminal court may be appealed. If the case in¬ 
volves a misdemeanor or an amount of money less than 
$7,500, the appeal is to some one of the courts of appeals. 
If the case involves a felony, or title to land, or an amount of 
money larger than $7,500, or a construction of the Constitu¬ 
tion or of the revenue laws, or title to office, or if a county is 
a party to the suit, the appeal is to the Supreme Court. 


238 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


258. The Court of Appeals.—These are the St. Louis 
Court of Appeals, the Kansas City Court of Appeals, and the 
Springfield Court of Appeals. In late years so many cases 
were appealed to the Supreme Court that its work became 
more than it could perform. These courts, therefore, were 
established to finally decide less important cases on appeal. 
Each has three judges who hold office for a term of twelve 
years. Each judge receives a salary varying from $3,500 to 
$5,500 per year. The three courts together embrace the 
whole State. Decisions by them must conform to prior 
decisions on the same subject by the Supreme Court. 

259. The Supreme Court.—This is the highest State 
court in Missouri. It is composed of seven judges, each of 
whom is elected for ten years, and each receives an annual 
salary of $4,500. For the purpose of convenience and more 
expeditious work, the court is at present divided into two 
divisions, Division One and Division Two. Division One 
has four judges, and considers only civil and equity cases; 
Division Two has three judges and reviews all kinds of cases, 
but especially criminal cases. If the judges of either division 
disagree, the case may be sent to the Court in Banc, which 
consists of all the judges. The Supreme Court exercises a 
general superintending control over all the other courts of 
the State. 

260. Appellate Practice .—The courts mentioned in 
the last two sections are appellate courts; they are not trial 
courts at all. They have no juries and they hear no wit¬ 
nesses. They will not interfere with the province of a jury; 
but their duty is to decide whether or not the case was prop¬ 
erly submitted to the jury, or whether or not it should have 
been submitted to a jury at all. When a case is taken to 
one of them by appeal, a copy of the petition, answer, evi¬ 
dence, instructions, verdict and judgment is laid before it, 
and it reviews them, and if it finds that the case has been 


THE COURTS. 


239 


properly tried it affirms the judgment, and then that judg¬ 
ment is final and binding on every one, or if it finds that 
error has been committed it points out that error and re¬ 
mands the cause to be tried over according to its directions, 
or if it finds the case has no merit and ought never to have 
been brought it reverses the judgment and dismisses the 
case, and that, too, is the end of it. 

261. The Reports.—The written opinions of the Su¬ 
preme Court are preserved and printed in a series of books 
called the Missouri Reports. Like publication is made of 
the opinions of the courts of appeals in a series of volumes 
called the Missouri Appeal Reports. This has been the 
case ever since these courts were established, and all the 
opinions thus published now make up over four hundred large 
volumes. 

262. Duty of Court With Respect to Laws.—The 

courts cannot make laws; it is not for them to say what the 
law should be. That is the duty of legislative bodies. How¬ 
ever wrong the conduct of the accused may be, the courts 
will not permit him to be punished unless that conduct is in 
clear violation of some valid law enacted by the legislative 
body. Nor will the courts permit him to be punished if the 
law is one which the legislative body had no power to enact. 
For instance, if a city council should authorize the mayor to 
try persons for murder the courts would not permit the 
mayor to try a murder case, for the city council, so long as 
our present Constitution remains unchanged, has not been 
given the power to confer such authority upon the mayor. 
The courts in this way are a great check on city councils 
and the General Assembly. They cause them to confine 
themselves to their own legitimate work. They cause them 
to be cautious lest they heedlessly enact high-handed laws. 
And by refusing to make laws themselves they force upon 
legislative bodies the duty of assuming their own responsi¬ 
bility of making laws for repressing public wrong. 


240 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


It is the duty of the courts to say what the law is; not 
what it ought to be. And it is also their duty to enforce the 
law in individual cases. 

263. Enforcement of the Law. —The duty of enforc¬ 
ing the law is ordinarily devolved almost entirely upon the 
courts. Without our courts many laws passed by the Leg¬ 
islature would be idle and useless; they would be no more 
than so much printed paper. But the courts enforce the laws 
by applying them to individual cases. The judge does not 
begin prosecutions, nor does he begin any kind of suits. His 
duty is to charge the grand jury to make inquiry as to the 
violations of the laws and to indict those who have commit¬ 
ted crimes. He cannot charge the prosecuting attorney to 
do that, but whenever he thinks that officer is not doing his 
duty in beginning prosecutions against violators of the law, 
he can summon a grand jury and charge them to make inves¬ 
tigations, and if the evidence shows that a certain person 
has committed a certain crime to indict him, and if an in¬ 
dictment is returned and the accused is brought into the 
court, the prosecuting attorney must proceed to try the case or 
dismiss it. And if the property of a private person is being 
withheld from him by another, that person may come into 
court on a written petition and ask the court to compel that 
other to yield up to him his own, and then the court will 
determine the rights of each in relation to that specific 
property, and enforce those rights by directing the sheriff 
what to do. Thus, the laws are enforced by applying them 
in individual cases, just as the rules of your school are en¬ 
forced by punishing individual violators. 

264. Efficiency of the Courts. —But whether or not 
the laws will be properly enforced in all cases depends on the 
character and ability of the judge, and of the sheriff, and of 
the prosecuting attorney in criminal cases, and on the truth¬ 
fulness of witnesses, and the fairness and integrity of juries. 
The people should choose men of solid character and proper 


THE COURTS. 


241 


ability to be judge, sheriff and prosecuting attorney, but 
those officers, however capable and however hard they may 
try, cannot prevent a “failure of justice” if witnesses testify 
falsely or jurors fail to obey the instructions of the court. 
Truthfulness is the foundation of justice. 

265. The Morals of the Community.—Whenever 
the people cease to be truthful the courts will break down. 
Whenever it becomes the rule that witnesses “bear false 
witness” and jurors become corrupt, the courts will becorhe 
a farce, and government a failure. So after all whether or 
not a citizen’s property, life and liberty will be protected, in 
a large measure depends on the truthfulness of witnesses and 
the honest character of jurors. And whether or not wit¬ 
nesses will tell the truth, and jurors be true to their oaths 
and intelligent and just in their verdicts, depend in large 
measure upon the moral character of the people, the kind and 
extent of the education they receive and their regard for the 
authority of law. It comes about, then, that every man 
who is trying to be truthful and honest, and every teacher 
who is inspiring his pupils with a love for the truth and for 
intelligence, and every parent who is teaching his children 
to be obedient, truthful, honest and industrious, is a help to 
the court in the administration of justice. Not only that, 
but he is adding to the value of every piece of property in 
his county and making his community a more desirable one 
in which to live. The just enforcement of the law against 
crime causes you to feel secure in your person and to feel that 
you can enjoy your property in peace and safety, and conse¬ 
quently that property becomes more valuable to you. If the 
courts afford you a sure method of recovering from your neigh¬ 
bor property or money that rightfully belongs to you, then 
your property becomes more valuable to you; and if the same 
sure method is guaranteed to every one in the community, 
then the value of all property is enhanced, for every one will 

16 


242 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


feel that the community is bent on seeing that he enjoys in 
peace what belongs to him. But the courts cannot afford 
this sure method unless men have the moral courage to tell 
the truth when they go on the witness stand, and jurors the 
moral courage to be just when they come to make up their 
verdict. 

266. Perjury.—But in spite of all parents can do, and 
schools can do, and moral instruction of every kind can do, 
there are some men so low in moral character that they will 
take an oath to tell “the whole truth and nothing but the 
truth” and then go on the witness stand and swear falsely. 
Currupt and false swearing is perjury, and the law provides 
that any one convicted of perjury may be imprisoned in the 
penitentiary, and that any person who procures or induces 
him to commit perjury may be punished in the same way. 

267. Ignorance of the Law.—Ignorance does not ex¬ 
cuse the criminal. Ignorance of what the law is does not 
excuse the violation of law. If one is brought into court 
charged with the violation of a law he cannot plead that he 
did not know that the act he was doing was forbidden by the 
law. 

This rule rarely works an injustice. It is a rare thing 
that one commits a crime without knowing it to be such. 
What the law says is a crime is in nearly every case the 
doing of something that all men know to be wrong. How¬ 
ever little one may have read the laws of the land, yet if he 
does only what he knows to be right, what he does will rarely 
be in violation of law. The law is founded on good morals, 
and the churches, the schools, the home, and all good men 
generally teach good morals. Good morals require one to 
be honest in his business dealings, and not to cheat or de¬ 
fraud or take from another what rightly belongs to him, and 
hence, we may say, the man who is always honest will never 
commit a theft. And so it is with all other conduct; the boy 


THE COURTS. 


243 


who starts out in life with an honest purpose to always do 
right and remains true to that purpose will never commit a 
crime, however ignorant he may be of what is written in the 

law. 

Besides, ignorance itself is often a moral wrong. The 
man who has a good opportunity to learn and will not do so 
commits a wrong against himself and against society. Schools 
are now established within the neighborhood of every child, 
and every child ought to be given some education unless pre¬ 
vented by sickness or poverty, or some other unavoidable 
hindrance. 

Nor is there any good reason why any person should re¬ 
main ignorant of what is written in the law. If he has any 
doubt about it let him consult a lawyer, or let him get the 
statutes and read them. There are lawyers in every county, 
and printed volumes of the statutes can be found with every 
justice of the peace, and in every court house, or if the laws 
are city ordinances, they can be found with the police judge, 
or mayor, or city clerk. And books containing these printed 
laws can always be bought by any citizen. 


Questions on Chapter V. 

1. What is the judicial department? (242) 

2. What are the courts of this State? (242) 

3. Why have these courts been established? (242) 

4. How are laws divided? (243) 

5. How is Civil Law divided? (243) 

6. What does Common Law concern? (243) 

7. Whence is it derived? (243) 

8. Where is it found? (243) 

9. What is Statutory Law? (243) 

10. Does it ever supplant the Common Law? (243) 

11. Until thus supplanted is the Common Law in force? (243) 

12. Who take part in enforcing the Common Law and Statutory 

Law? (243) 

13. Why was Equity Law created? (243) 

14. By whom are equity cases tried? (243) 


244 CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 

15. To what does Criminal Law relate? (243) 

16. How are crimes divided? (243) 

17. What is a misdemeanor? (243) 

18. How is a misdemeanor tried? (243) 

19. What is a felony? (243) 

20. How is it tried? (243) 

21. What is said of justices of the peace? (244) 

22. How may arrests be made? (244) 

23. Out of what courts do warrants issue? (244) 

24. Out of what courts do they usually issue? (244) 

25. When may the justice issue such warrants? (244) 

26. By whom may the complaint be made? (244) 

27. Where will the accused be tried? (244) 

28. What civil suits may be tried in a justice’s court? (244) 

29. Where may prosecutions in misdemeanor cases be begun? (244) 

30. Can a justice try an equity case? (244) 

31. How many men constitute a jury in a magistrate’s court? (244) 

32. What is the finding of the jury called? (244) 

33. How many jurors may make a verdict? (244) 

34. When and how may there be an appeal in a civil case? In a 

criminal case? (244) 

35. How is the justice paid? (244) 

36. What is the constable? (245) 

37. What are his duties? (245) 

38. With what business is the probate court concerned? (246) 

39. What must be done when one dies? (246) 

40. What property may be used for that purpose? (246) 

41. If the person has left no will who takes charge of his estate? 

(246) 

42. If he has left a will, who does? (246) 

43. Can the will deprive the widow of her dower or homestead? 

(246) 

44. Can the deceased defeat the payment of his debts by his will? 

(246) 

45. When the estate is finally administered, what is done with the 

balance? (246) 

46. What are the circuit courts? (247) 

47. What kind of cases may be tried in them? (247) 

48. How many circuits and how many judges in each? (247) 

49. What are criminal courts? (248) 

50. What are the qualifications and salary of a circuit judge? (249) 

51. What assistants has he? (250) 


COUNTIES. 


245 


52. Tell how the grand jury is constituted and what are its duties. 

(251) 

53. What change in the prosecution of felons was wrought by the 

amendment of 1900? (251) 

54. What is the petit jury? (252) 

55. How are the jurors and panel chosen? (252) 

56. How is the panel made up in case the accused may be punished 

with death or life imprisonment? (252) 

57. How many jurors can make a verdict in a civil case? In a fel¬ 

ony case? (252) 

58. What is said of trial by jury? (253) 

59. What are the parties to a suit styled? (254) 

60. Name the various steps in a civil trial. (254) 

61. In a criminal trial? (255) 

62. Who fixes the punishment in a criminal trial? (255) 

63. How are instructions given? (256) 

64. What do they embrace? (256) 

65. What is a judgment? (257) 

66. How far binding is it? (257) 

67. What cases may be appealed to a court of appeals? (257) 

68. What to the Supreme Court? (257) 

69. Tell about the courts of appeals. (258) 

70. What is said about the Supreme Court? (259) 

71. How is a case laid before an appellate court? (260) 

72. When will it affirm the judgment? (260) 

73. When will it remand the cause? (260) 

74. When will it reverse the judgment? (260) 

75. What are the Reports? (261) 

76. Who makes the laws? (262) 

77. Must the accused violate valid lawbefore he can be punished? (263) 

78. Upon what does the enforcement of the law devolve? (263) 

79. How does it enforce them? (263) 

80. Upon what does the enforcement of law depend? (264) 

81. Can they always prevent a failure of justice? (264) 

82. What is the foundation of justice? (264) 

83. When will the courts break down and government become a 

failure? (265) 

84. Upon what do the truthfulness of witnesses and the honesty of 

jurors depend? (265) 

85. What is perjury? (266) 

86. Does ignorance of the law excuse crime? (267) 

87. Is that a harsh rule? Why? (267) 


246 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


CHAPTER VI. 

COUNTIES. 

268. Relations to the State.—The county is a polit¬ 
ical subdivision of the State. There are one hundred and 
fourteen counties and the city of St. Louis in Missouri. Each 
county has certain officers elected by the people. They are 
the county clerk, sheriff, circuit clerk, three judges of the 
county court, probate judge, recorder of deeds, prosecuting 
attorney, treasurer, collector, assessor, surveyor, public ad¬ 
ministrator, superintendent of schools and coroner. 

269. Boundaries.—Each county in the State was or¬ 
ganized by the Legislature, which fixed its boundaries. These 
boundaries can not be changed except by the Legislature. 

270. County Seat.—The county seat is the seat of the 
county government. It is usually where the court house is. 
It can be changed only by a vote of the people of the county. 
In the court house are kept all the county records, and the 
county officers have offices there, and sessions of the circuit 
court and of the county court are held therein. 

271. The County Court.—The county court consists 
of three officers, called judges of the county court. One of 
these is elected from the whole county for four years and is 
called the presiding judge. The other two are elected for 
two years each, one from one-half of the county and the other 
from the other half. This court meets in regular session 
every three months and sometimes in special session once a 
month, and is charged with levying taxes upon the inhab¬ 
itants of the county to pay the expenses of the county gov¬ 
ernment. This money is needed for paying the salaries of 
county officers and the fees of jurors, for building bridges and 
working roads; for caring for paupers and indigent insane 


COUNTIES. 


247 


persons; for paying the county’s debts and the expenses of 
elections; for prosecuting criminals and maintaining the au¬ 
thority of government. It is also charged with seeing that 
these taxes are properly collected, and safely kept, and dis¬ 
bursed as the law requires. 

If any person has a claim against the county he presents 
it to this court for allowance, and if it is allowed by the court 
the county clerk is directed to issue a warrant for the amount, 
which, when signed by the presiding judge and the clerk, may 
be paid by the treasurer. No money can be expended by 
the county for any purpose except by the direction of this 
court, nor can the court direct its payment for any purpose 
not specified by law. 

The county court designates voting places in each town¬ 
ship, and appoints judges of elections for each place, for all 
general and special elections throughout the county, but not 
for school elections. 

It exercises a supervising control over all county officers, 
and is charged with seeing that they do not appropriate 
funds belonging to the county. It also establishes new roads, 
and in doing that it is a judicial body, but in almost all 
other matters is a part of the executive department of gov¬ 
ernment, established for the purpose of managing the busi¬ 
ness of the county. 

272. County Clerk.—The county clerk records in 
proper books the doings of the county court. He apportions 
to each taxpayer of the county, according to the assessments 
made by the assessor and board of equalization and to the 
levy made by the county court, the amount of state and 
county and school taxes to be paid by such taxpayer, and he 
also apportions to each school district the amount of county 
school funds to which it is entitled for conducting its schools. 
His books are, therefore, a check on the county collector and 
on the county treasurer. He counts the votes cast at all 
elections in the county, in the presence of two justices of the 


248 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


peace or two judges of the county court, and gives a certifi¬ 
cate of election to the candidate for county office who has 
received the highest number of votes, and certifies to the Sec¬ 
retary of State the number of votes cast in his county for 
candidates for the various state offices and Representatives 
in Congress, and to the Governor the number of votes cast 
for Presidential electors. 

273. County Collector.—After the county clerk has 
apportioned to each taxpayer the amount of taxes due from 
him, for state, county and school purposes, and made proper 
entry thereof in the tax-book, he turns that book over to the 
county collector, who proceeds to collect the taxes. All 
taxes are payable at any time between September and the 
last day of December, and become delinquent on the first 
day of January, and after that a penalty of one per cent per 
month on the amount due is added for failure to pay in proper 
time. If the taxes are not paid before the first day of Jan¬ 
uary, the collector may seize and sell the taxpayer’s per¬ 
sonal property, or he may bring suit therefor at any time 
within five years after they first become delinquent. 

In counties having township organization the taxes are 
collected by township collectors, there being one in each 
municipal township. The tax-books are prepared for them 
by the county clerk. 

274. County Treasurer.—The county collector re¬ 
mits to the State Treasurer the taxes collected by him, and 
the balance he turns over to the county treasurer, and the 
treasurer pays out the county revenue on warrants issued by 
the county court, and the school moneys on warrants issued 
by the proper school board. The county treasurer is re¬ 
quired to give a large bond for the faithful keeping of the 
money thus entrusted to him. The moneys are not permit¬ 
ted to lie idle in his hands, but are deposited in certain banks 
called county depositories, which pay the county a small 
rate of interest for the use of the moneys. 


COUNTIES. 


249 


In counties having township organization the county 
treasurer is also ex officio county collector, and the taxes col¬ 
lected for county and state purposes are turned over to him 
by the township collectors, and then this ex officio collector 
sends the State’s share to the State Treasurer. But the 
school taxes are turned over to the township treasurer, who 
pays them out on warrants drawn by the proper school 
boards of the township; and the township revenues, to be 
used for working roads, constructing small bridges, etc., are 
paid out by the township treasurer on warrants drawn by the 
township board. 

The county treasurer and the county collector (and the 
township collectors) are required to make annual settlements 
with the county court, which goes carefully over their books, 
adds up the warrants paid and counts the cash on hand, to 
see that they have faithfully applied all the moneys received 
by them as the law directs. 

275. The Assessor.—The assessor values the lands and 
other property in the county for purposes of taxation. He 
visits each property-owner in the county and requires him 
to give him under oath an itemized statement of all his prop¬ 
erties, and then lists those properties in a book prepared for 
the purpose, called the assessment book, and places a value 
on each piece of property so listed, and makes a return of his 
work to the county clerk. If the property owner refuses to 
give him a list of his property he makes the assessment as 
best he can from any other information he may obtain, and 
the value he fixes upon it is doubled; and if the property 
owner makes a false list and that fact is shown, his taxes are 
trebled. If he refuses to make oath to his list, he is subject 
to a fine of not to exceed one thousand dollars, and if he make 
a false oath he is liable as for perjury. 

When the assessor has completed the assessment made 
by him, the county board of equalization, which is composed 
of the three judges of the county court, the assessor and the 


250 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


county surveyor, meets and hears complaints from property 
owners about the valuation placed upon their property by 
the assessor, and diminishes or increases his valuation as to 
the members of the board may seem just, and otherwise 
equalizes his valuations. And if the State Board of Equal¬ 
ization at its meetings a month or two later increases or di¬ 
minishes the valuation of properties in the county, the county 
board meets and to the same extent increases or diminishes 
the valuation of each piece of property in the county. 

The valuation of each piece of property in the county 
being thus fixed, the county court fixes the rate of taxation 
for State and county purposes, and makes a levy of that rate 
against all the property in the county, and directs the county 
clerk to calculate the amount of taxes each taxpayer is to 
pay, and the clerk makes such calculation, enters the amount 
in a tax-book, and turns that book over to the collector, who 
proceeds to collect the taxes. 

Thus, if the county court is of the opinion that a tax rate 
of 40 cents on the hundred dollars valuation will afford the 
county enough revenue for meeting its current expenses for 
the next year, it makes a levy of forty cents. Then if your 
land has been valued at $600, and your personal property at 
$400, the county clerk lists your name and your land in the 
“Real Estate Book” and writes opposite thereto the valua¬ 
tion placed on the land, and the rate of taxation for county 
purposes (40 cents) and charges your land with $2.40 county 
taxes, and also affixes the rate of taxation for State purposes 
as fixed by law (say 17 cents) and charges the land with 
$1.02 State taxes, and then the rate of taxation for school 
purposes as fixed by the voters or school board of the dis¬ 
trict in which the land lies (say 45 cents) and charges the 
land with $2.70 school taxes. In another book called the 
“Personal Assessment Book,” he enters your name and the 
valuation fixed on your personal property ($400) and then 
opposite thereto he enters the rate of taxation for county 


COUNTIES. 


251 


purposes (40 cents) and charges you with $1.60 county taxes, 
and the rate of taxation for State purposes as fixed by law 
(say 17 cents) and charges you with 68 cents State taxes, and 
the rate of taxation for school purposes as fixed by the voters 
or school board of the district in which you live (say 45 cents) 
and charges you with $1.80 school taxes. These books are 
then turned over to the collector, and he makes out one tax- 
bill in which he incorporates all the taxes due from one tax¬ 
payer, and proceeds to collect that bill. 

The above illustration does not include all taxes you 
have to pay. It includes only the taxes for state purposes, 
for current county expenses and ordinary school taxes. The 
county may be indebted for a court house or jail, and, if so, 
the county court must annually add to the rate levied by it 
for current expenses such a tax as will produce enough money 
to pay the interest and one-twentieth of that debt. The 
county court may also, in obedience to the vote of the peo¬ 
ple, have issued bonds, and sold them, and used the money 
in that way obtained to build permanent public roads, and 
to pay those bonds it must levy a further tax sufficient to 
pay the interest on those bonds as it becomes due and one- 
twentieth of the principal annually. And a school district 
may be indebted for a school house; if so, there must be 
levied by the school board and charged by the county clerk 
to the property-holders therein, in addition to the tax for 
paying teachers and paying incidental expenses, a tax suf¬ 
ficient to pay the interest on the debt and a part of the prin¬ 
cipal each year. 

Neither does this illustration include city taxes levied 
for maintaining city government, which will be discussed 
elsewhere. 

Railroads, street railways, telegraph and telephone lines 
are assessed by the State Board of Equalization, and then 
the portion thereof lying in any county and in any town or 
township therein and the valuation thereof are certified to 


252 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


the county court, which levies the same rate of taxes against 
them as against other properties in the county. 

Formerly real estate (or land and houses) was assessed 
only once in two years. But now both real estate and per¬ 
sonal property are assessed every year. And the property 
assessed is the property which the taxpayer had on hand 
the first day of June. 

276. The Circuit Clerk is the clerk for the circuit 
court. He issues summonses, subpoenas for witnesses, and 
warrants for the arrest of persons charged with crime, and 
keeps in suitable books a record of the doings of the court. 
He administers oaths to grand juries and petit juries and 
swears witnesses. In some counties he is also ex officio re¬ 
corder. 

277. The Sheriff is the executive officer of the county 
court, circuit court and probate court. He subpoenas wit¬ 
nesses, serves summonses, makes arrests and carries out the 
orders of the courts. He is the chief peace officer of the 
county, and, in order to preserve the peace against any gen¬ 
eral and sudden defiance of law, can command every able- 
bodied man in the county to assist him. This is called posse 
comitatus, which means “the power of the county.” In some 
counties he is ex officio collector, also. 

278. The Prosecuting Attorney is the legal adviser 
of the county court and of all county officers. His chief 
duty consists in prosecuting men who have been indicted or 
arrested for crime. In most counties he also represents the 
county in all suits brought by or against it, but in a few of 
large population there is a county counselor to attend to the 
civil business of the county. 

279. The Recorder of Deeds copies in large volumes 
all deeds conveying land in his county, all wills devising 
lands, all mortgages and deeds of trust, and all chattel mort¬ 
gages. These records are open to the inspection of all per- 


COUNTIES. 


253 


sons. It is through these records that the titles to lands 
are traced and the owners thereof ascertained. 

280. The Surveyor lays out such new roads as the 
county court may direct to be opened. He also fixes the 
boundary lines of the land of private citizens when requested 
to do so. He is usually the bridge commissioner of the 
county and as such superintends the construction of larger 
public bridges, and he may also be appointed county road 
engineer, and as such superintend the construction of the 
public roads of the county. 

281. The Public Administrator.—When one dies, 
letters of administration are granted to the husband or wife, 
if there be such, or, if not, to those entitled to a distributive 
share of the estate or one or more of them, if they are resi¬ 
dents of the State. But sometimes it happens that one dies 
without any relatives, or such relatives are residents of other 
States, or are minors, or are not able to make the necessary 
bond. In such case the probate court may appoint any 
suitable person administrator; or the public administrator, 
who has been elected by the people, comes forward and takes 
charge of the estate, and proceeds to administer it, under the 
direction of the court. 

282. The Coroner.—It is the duty of this officer to 
examine into the cause of any sudden or suspicious death 
or killing in his county, and if necessary require the arrest 
of any person suspected of causing such death. He may be 
aided by a jury of six men. 

282a. County Auditor.—In each county having be¬ 
tween fifty thousand and one hundred and fifty thousand 
inhabitants (which means St. Louis, Greene, Buchanan and 
Jasper), there is a county auditor, elected by the people for 
a term of four years. He is an expert accountant. He 
keeps a correct account between the county and all other 
officers of the county, and audits all claims and demands 


254 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


against the county before they are allowed by the county 
court. He is required to be alert to see that all fees and 
moneys due the county are paid over to it, and that no money 
is paid out except in pursuance to law. 

283. Compensation of Officers.—The pay of all 
county officers is regulated by law. In most cases the amount 
is dependent upon the amount of business pertaining to the 
office or the number of inhabitants in the county. Most of 
them are permitted to charge fees for each duty performed, 
and the total amount or part of the fees for the year con¬ 
stitute their remuneration. In some counties these fees 
amount to but little, in others to a very large sum; but in 
most of them the average compensation of the better offices 
is about $1,200 or $1,800 per year, besides the deputy hire. 
But prosecuting attorneys and treasurers are allowed a small 
salary in addition to their fees. The pay of a county judge 
is $5 per day while attending the sessions of his court, and 
mileage. 

284. Townships.—Each county is divided into mu¬ 
nicipal townships, whose size and boundaries are made to 
suit the convenience of the inhabitants. These townships 
are given names just as the counties are, such as Richmond, 
Sugar Creek dr Happy Hollow. In each township there is 
an election precinct or voting place, and sometimes more 
than one. 

285. Township Organization.—In seventeen coun¬ 
ties in Missouri there is what is known as township organiza¬ 
tion. Under such a system the officers of a township are in¬ 
creased and those of the county decreased. Each township 
then has a Township Board, consisting of a president, clerk, 
treasurer and two other members, whose duty it is to open 
up new roads, pay overseers for working the same and au¬ 
thorize the building of small bridges. Instead of a county 
assessor, the property is assessed by the township clerk, and 


COUNTIES. 


255 


instead of a county collector there is a collector for each 
township, and there is also a township trustee or treasurer 
in addition to the county treasurer. Its other officers are 
the same as those of other counties. In such a county, there 
being no county assessor, the sheriff takes the place of that 
officer as a member of the county board of equalization. 

286. Rate of Taxation.—The Constitution fixes a 
maximum rate of taxation for county and township pur¬ 
poses. If the property in a county is assessed at less than 
six million dollars the rate cannot exceed fifty cents on the 
hundred dollars valuation. Where the valuation is between 
six and ten million dollars the rate cannot exceed forty cents 
on the hundred dollars. If the valuation is over ten million 
and less than thirty million dollars, the highest rate permis¬ 
sible is fifty cents on the hundred dollars; in counties having 
thirty million or more, the rate for these purposes cannot 
exceed thirty-five cents on the hundred dollars valuation. 
These are the highest rates for ordinary current expenses of 
the county and of the townships therein. And by current 
expenses is meant salaries of county officers, jurors’ fees, the 
expenses of holding elections, working the roads, building 
bridges, printing, caring for the poor and the insane, and the 
keeping of prisoners in the county jail, and such matters. 

In addition to these rates a further tax of twenty-five 
cents on the hundred dollars valuation may be levied for 
improvement of the public roads, and if levied the money 
collected in pursuance thereto can be used only for roads and 
bridges. 

In addition to these rates the county court must levy a 
tax sufficient to pay the annual interest and one-twentieth 
of the principal of any debt which the county may have 
legally incurred. That debt will be in the form of bonds is¬ 
sued to build a court house, or other county buildings, or 
permanent public roads, and the taxes raised to pay that 
debt can be used for no other purpose. 


256 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


The county court cannot issue any bonds or create any 
debt until authorized to do so by a vote of the people, and no 
debts can be made by counties except to construct public 
buildings, or permanent public roads, nor can the indebted¬ 
ness of a county exceed five per cent of the assessed valuation 
of all property in the county. 


Questions on Chapter VI. 

1. What is a county? (268) 

2. What officers has it? (268) 

3. How were counties organized? (269) 

4. What is the county seat? (270) 

5. How is the county court composed? (271) 

6. What is it charged with doing? (271) 

7. For what is money raised by taxation used? (271) 

8. What else is it charged with? (271^ 

9. How are county claims paid? (271) 

10. Can county money be expended at the will of officers? (271) 

11. What has the court to do with elections? (271) 

12. What other duties does it perform? (271) 

13. What are the duties of the county clerk? (272) 

14. What are his duties in reference to elections? (272) 

15. How are taxes collected? (273) 

16. What are done with the taxes after they are collected? (274) 

17. How are they paid out? (274) 

18. How are they paid out in counties having township organiza¬ 

tion? (274) 

19. What about settlements of these officers? (274) 

20. What are the duties of the assessor? (275) 

21. Tell how he does this. (275) 

22. What if the owner refuses to list his property? (275) 

23. Suppose he makes a false list? (275) 

24. Suppose he refuses to make oath to his list? (275) 

25. When the assessor has completed his assessment, what is done? 

(275) 

26. Suppose the State board changes the valuation of the county 

board? (275) 

27. What does the county court then do? (275) 

28. What must the clerk then do? (275) 

29. How are railroads, etc., assessed? (275) 


CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


257 


30. How often is property assessed? (275) 

31. What are the duties of the circuit clerk? (276) 

32. What is the sheriff and what does he do? (277) 

33. What is said of the prosecuting attorney? (278) 

34*. What are the duties of the recorder of deeds? (279) 

35. And of the surveyor? (280) 

36. To whom are letters of administration granted? (281) 

37. If there are no such relatives, who administers the estate? (281) 

38. What are the duties of the coroner? (282) 

39. How are county officers paid? (283) 

40. What is said of municipal townships? (284) 

41. What is said of township organization? (285) 

42. What is the maximum rate of taxation for county current ex¬ 

penses? (286) 

43. What is the rate in your county? 

44. Can the court levy other taxes to pay debts? (286) 

45. For what purpose may a county make a debt? (286) 

46. What can the debt not exceed? (286) 


CHAPTER VII. 

CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

287. Powers, How Defined. —In furtherance of the 
principle of local government the Constitution of the State 
has given to cities and towns the right to organize for the 
control of their affairs. Their governments are chiefly ex¬ 
ecutive, but they also have minor judicial and legislative 
powers. But just as the Legislature’s powers are limited by 
the Constitution, so are the powers of city government lim¬ 
ited by the statutes enacted by the Legislature. A city or 
town can legally exercise no power except such as is given it 
by the General Assembly. It must not be forgotten, how¬ 
ever, that county and state authority extends over cities and 
towns just as much as over any rural district. The town¬ 
ship in which the city is has the same officers as any other 
township, such as justices of the peace and constable. But 
17 



258 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


in addition to these, the city has certain other officers. These 
are mayor, board of aldermen, clerk, collector, treasurer, 
assessor, police judge and marshal, and yet other officers for 
the larger cities. 

288. Necessity for City Government.—It is neces¬ 
sary to have local officers to look after the affairs of a town. 
Wherever men congregate there is danger of disorder. Po¬ 
licemen and marshals are needed to see that the little jar- 
rings that come from rivals in business do not lead to infrac¬ 
tions of the law, and to quickly suppress the vicious and 
lawless persons that often gather about towns. Besides, 
streets, sidewalks, and sewers must be constructed, lights 
and water provided, nuisances abated and fires prevented. 
The county court can provide for none of these things. It 
is, therefore, to promote the general welfare of the people 
that city government is established. 

289. Incorporation.—Before the adoption of the 
present Constitution the inhabitants of a particular town, 
desiring to organize as a city, applied to the Legislature for 
a special charter defining the powers of the city and its terri¬ 
torial boundaries. And as the Constitution prohibits the 
passage of any law that violates vested rights, either of a 
private citizen or of any corporation, some cities yet have 
these special charters. They cannot be taken from them, 
but may voluntarily be surrendered by a majority of the 
voters, and the city reorganized under the general statute, 
and that in all except a few cases has been done. 

But a city cannot be incorporated by a special charter 
from the Legislature under the present Constitution. That 
instrument directed the enactment of a general law under 
which cities should be classified and organized according to 
the number of their inhabitants. The same powers are given 
by the statute to each city of the same class, and that statute 
is its charter. The city can enact no ordinance nor exercise 


CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


259 


any authority, except such as is expressly given it by its 
charter. 

Whenever an unorganized city or town wishes to incor¬ 
porate, a petition is signed by the majority of its taxable in¬ 
habitants and presented to the county court. The court 
enters on its records an order declaring such a city incorpo¬ 
rated, declaring its class, defining its boundaries, and desig¬ 
nating its first set of officers, who hold office until the time 
of the next regular election for all cities of its class, as fixed 
by law. 

290. How Governed.—Cities are governed by ordi¬ 
nances passed by the city council. These ordinances pre¬ 
scribe the duties of each officer and undertake to punish only 
such crimes as may be classed as misdemeanors. But there 
are other ordinances defining the width of the streets, direct¬ 
ing the making of sidewalks, defining the limits in which 
wooden houses may be constructed, and prescribing rules 
for the control of light plants and waterworks, sewers and 
street railways and the management of parks. 

291. Classes.—Cities in Missouri are divided into four 
classes, according to population. All cities having five hun¬ 
dred inhabitants and not more than three thousand, are 
cities of the fourth or lowest class; those having three thou¬ 
sand inhabitants and less than thirty thousand, are cities of 
the third class; those having thirty thousand inhabitants 
and less than one hundred thousand, are cities of the second 
class; and those having one hundred thousand inhabitants 
or more, are cities of the first class. These classes differ in 
the powers delegated to each, the higher the class the greater 
its privileges. A city of one class having the requisite popu¬ 
lation may become one of a higher class when a majority of 
its legal voters ratify an ordinance making such change. 

All towns of less than five hundred inhabitants, not now 
incorporated, are declared to be villages. 


260 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


292. Cities of Fourth Class.—There are about two 
hundred cities in Missouri belonging to the fourth class. 
Each has the officers named in the first section of this chap¬ 
ter. The mayor is the chief executive officer. He exercises 
supervision over all other officers, appoints its minor officers, 
and may with the board of aldermen remove from office any 
officer, for cause, after a hearing. An ordinance cannot be¬ 
come operative unless it receives his approval, but if vetoed 
by him, it may be again passed by two-thirds of the members 
of the council, and it then becomes a law and can be enforced. 

These are the general powers of mayors in cities of every 
class. 

293. Board of Aldermen.—Each city of the fourth 
class is divided into not less than two wards, and from each 
ward the people elect two aldermen, and the whole number 
of such aldermen is called the board of aldermen. This 
board passes all the ordinances of the city, allows accounts 
against the city, requires a settlement from each officer, 
levies the taxes, contracts with companies to construct elec¬ 
tric and gas light plants, or, when authorized by two-thirds 
of its voters, constructs such plants at the expense of the 
city, and otherwise controls the city’s affairs. In cities of 
a higher class some of its duties are performed by an auditor, 
comptroller and board of public improvement. 

294. The Marshal is the chief police officer of cities of 
the fourth class. It is his duty to preserve order on the 
streets and see that they are not obstructed, to make arrests, 
and watch the conduct of suspected persons. He can arrest 
any person he may observe violating the ordinances, and all 
other persons against whom a warrant has been issued. 

295. The Police Judge issues warrants for the arrest 
of persons charged with misdemeanors. When any person 
is brought before him by a marshal or a policeman, charged 
with having violated a city ordinance, he may have a jury 


CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


261 


called to try him, or if a jury be waived the police judge alone 
may try him, A person convicted of crime he may commit 
to jail unless his fine is paid or an appeal is taken to the cir¬ 
cuit or criminal court. 

Where the ordinances of a city have not created a police 
judge his duties are performed by the mayor. 

296. Duties of Other Officers.—The duties to be per¬ 
formed by a clerk, assessor, collector and treasurer are sim¬ 
ilar to those required of the county officers of the same name, 
except that the clerk transcribes all ordinances into the gen¬ 
eral ordinance book. 

The term of all the officers of cities of the fourth class 
is two years, but one-half the aldermen are elected each year. 

297. Cities of the Third Class have a few more priv¬ 
ileges than those of the fourth class. More policemen may 
be provided for, and the city may build a hospital, construct 
a system of sewerage, enforce regulations to prevent the 
spread of contagious diseases, and exercise other powers. 
Their affairs are regulated by a council composed of two 
councilmen from each ward, and the entire number of wards 
shall not be less than four. 

For every city of ten thousand inhabitants or more, the 
State provides factory inspectors, whose duty it is to inspect 
all large factories, and see that the laws are obeyed which 
require healthful conditions, that children under fourteen 
years of age are not permitted to work therein, that children 
between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years are not re¬ 
quired to work more than 54 hours a week, and that seats 
and other conveniences are provided for women working 
therein. 

298. Cities of the Second Class have still greater 
privileges. They may make more rigid ordinances to pre¬ 
vent fires, may sell real property for taxes, may control the 
construction of street railways and may establish rigid sani- 


262 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


tary regulations. Their legislative powers are vested in a 
common council, composed of one councilman from each 
ward and a president of the council, who is elected from the 
city at large, all of whom are elected for a term of four years, 
one-half of those elected from the wards being chosen every 
two years, and the other half two years later. 

299. Cities of the First Class.—The powers of cities 
of the first class will not be discussed. The class consists of 
cities having one hundred thousand inhabitants or more. 
There are only two cities in the State of that size—Kansas 
City and St. Louis—and both are organized under special 
charters of their own. In both of them, however, the law 
provides for a system of registration of voters, by which lists 
of voters by wards and precincts are made a few weeks in 
advance of an election, and then no person whose name is 
not found on such list can vote. This is done to prevent 
fraud on the ballot. 

300. Kansas City.—Under the Constitution a city 
having more than one hundred thousand inhabitants may 
frame a charter for itself, and when this is adopted by four- 
sevenths of its qualified voters, it supersedes any existing 
charter, and may itself, be amended at any subsequent time 
by an ordinance adopted by a vote of the people. But such 
charter must always be in harmony with and subject to the 
Constitution and laws of Missouri. Under this provision 
and an enabling act of the Legislature, Kansas City was or¬ 
ganized with a new charter in 1889. There is a Common 
Council of two houses, called the Upper House and the Lower 
House. The Upper House consists of as many members as 
there are wards, and they are elected by the voters of the 
city at large. The Lower House consists of one member 
from each ward elected by the people thereof. An ordinance 
to be in force in the city must be passed by each house and 
be approved by the mayor. The police department of the 


CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


263 


city is managed by a board of police commissioners, com¬ 
posed of the mayor, and two commissioners appointed by the 
Governor. This board appoints policemen and controls and 
regulates the duties and discipline of all peace officers of 
the city. 

301. City of St. Louis.—By the laws of Missouri the 
city of St. Louis was many years ago set off to herself, en¬ 
tirely free from the county in which situated. In other 
words, the city and county governments there are consoli¬ 
dated. There are no county officers, but their usual duties 
are performed by • officers of the city. There are circuit 
judges, criminal judges, justices of the peace, mayor, collec¬ 
tor, auditor, recorder of deeds, sheriff and other officers 
elected by the voters of the city. The city also collects and 
turns over to the State its share of the State taxes just as 
does a county. But the police department is governed by 
a board of commissioners. Four commissioners are appointed 
by the Governor, and the mayor is ex officio a commissioner. 

This arrangement for the city of St. Louis was made 
through what is known as its Scheme and Charter, provided 
for by the Constitution. The legislative powers of St. Louis 
are vested in the Municipal Assembly, composed of a Council 
and a House of Delegates. There are a great number of 
officers provided for a systematic government of its munici¬ 
pal affairs^ and extensive powers are given for curtailing the 
liberties of the individual citizen, for the public good. 

302. Villages .—Provision is also made for any town 
of less than five hundred inhabitants to organize as a village. 
When a petition signed by two-thirds of its taxable inhab¬ 
itants is presented to the county court, it can declare such 
village incorporated. The powers and duties of village gov¬ 
ernment are vested in a board of five trustees, and the first 
board is appointed by the county court. It passes ordi¬ 
nances providing for police regulation of the town and for 


264 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


the levying and collection of taxes; and has power to appoint 
a treasurer, assessor, collector and a constable or marshal. 

303. Elections.—The statutes of the State fix the time 
for elections in all cities in the State, except those organized 
under special charters. In cities of the second class these 
elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Mon¬ 
day in April, and in all other cities on the first Tuesday of 
April. At least one precinct is established in each ward, and 
each voter must vote in the precinct to which he belongs. In 
the city of St. Louis some of the officers are elected on the 
first Tuesday in April, and others at the regular November 
election. 

304. Extending City Limits.—A city of any class has 
the power to extend its limits indefinitely, and take within 
the corporation as much of the surrounding country as it 
desires, except that one city cannot include another within 
its boundaries unless the legal voters thereof consent. The 
extension is made by the mayor and council, but in cities of 
the third or fourth class they can do so only when a majority 
of the voters consent, but in cities of the first and second 
class the limits may be extended by the mayor and council 
alone without the consent of the voters. The inhabitants 
of the added territory have no voice in this extension, unless 
the new addition includes a part of another incorporated 
town, in which case four-sevenths of the voters thereof must 
consent to be added to the city before such extension can be 
made. 

305. City Assessors.—In each city of the first and 
second class there is an assessor who values and assesses all 
property within the city for the purposes of city taxation. 
The process is very much the same as in the assessment of 
taxes for county purposes. The city assessor places a value 
on each piece of property and lists it in proper books, and 
these are turned over to the clerk, and he gives notice that 


CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


265 


any person dissatisfied may come before the board of appeals 
and have the injustice corrected. Then the board of appeals, 
consisting of the mayor, the comptroller and one alderman, 
with the assessor, equalizes the valuations made by the as¬ 
sessor, and increases or diminishes them as may seem just, 
and then the council fixes the tax rate, and the city clerk 
“extends the taxes” or makes up the tax book, and turns it 
over to the collector, who proceeds to collect the city taxes. 

In cities of the third class the city assessor and the 
county (or township) assessor make the assessment togeth¬ 
er, and then when the county board of equalization meets 
the mayor and the city assessor meet with them and help 
adjust the valuations of all property within the city, and then 
the valuations as made by that board become the valuations 
of all property within the city for both county and city pur¬ 
poses. 

In cities of the fourth class there may or may not be a 
city assessor. If the city prefers it need not have such of¬ 
ficer. If it does not, the valuations as finally fixed by the 
county board of equalization become the valuations for city 
purposes. If the city have an assessor of its own, he and the 
county (or township) assessor assess the property together, 
and then the valuations as fixed by the county board of 
equalization become those for the purposes of city taxation. 

306. Rate of Taxation. —In addition to taxes levied 
for the support of the county and state government and for 
public schools, the inhabitants of a city must also pay taxes 
for maintaining the city government. In cities having less 
than one thousand inhabitants the rate of taxation cannot, 
for ordinary city purposes, exceed twenty-five cents on the 
hundred dollars valuation; in cities having between one 
thousand and ten thousand inhabitants the rate cannot ex¬ 
ceed fifty cents on the hundred dollars; in cities having ten 
thousand inhabitants and less than thirty thousand the rate 
cannot exceed sixty cents on the hundred dollars; and in 


266 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


cities of more than thirty thousand inhabitants the rate can¬ 
not exceed one hundred cents on the hundred dollars val¬ 
uation. 

In the city of St. Louis, since the city and county gov¬ 
ernments are there consolidated, the city may levy for mu¬ 
nicipal purposes, in addition to one hundred cents on the 
hundred dollars, a tax rate not exceeding the rate which a 
county having thirty million dollars of property or more 
may levy for county purposes—that is, the rate for city 
purposes may there be as high as $1.35 on each hundred 
dollars of valuation. 

This provision in the Constitution which fixes a maxi¬ 
mum rate of taxation for city purposes is of the greatest im¬ 
portance. Perhaps there is not a county court or city council 
in the State which does not tax the people the highest rate 
permitted by law, and it was, therefore, a wise provision in 
the Constitution which fixed a mark above which taxation 
cannot rise. 

But to meet the cost of working the streets the cities 
are authorized to levy an annual poll tax of two or three dol¬ 
lars on all men between the ages of eighteen and fifty years. 
And besides, for meeting its other current expenses it has 
the power to charge a license tax on persons wishing to carry 
on certain kinds of business, such as saloons, peddlers and 
auctioneers. But a license is not really a tax; it is a charge 
or fee for the privilege of doing business. 

These are the rates for ordinary current expenses. Those 
rates for those purposes cannot be exceeded in any case. But 
two-thirds of the voters of the city may authorize the city to 
incur a debt for the construction of waterworks, light plants, 
public buildings, public sewers and in some cases streets. 
But again the Constitution fixes a limit to the amount of 
debt a city may incur. It says that the amount of the city’s 
entire indebtedness cannot exceed five per cent of the as¬ 
sessed valuation of all property in the city, except that a city 


CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


267 


having between 2,000 and 30,000 inhabitants may incur an 
additional debt of five per cent for constructing or purchas¬ 
ing waterworks and light plants to be owned by the city. 
It further says that before any debt can be created for any 
purpose two-thirds of the voters at a special election must con¬ 
sent thereto, and by the same vote they must authorize the 
city council to levy, in addition to the taxes for ordinary city 
expenses, a tax sufficient to annually pay the interest on the 
debt and the debt itself within twenty years. Thus in no 
case can the city’s indebtedness exceed ten per cent, and in 
no case unless it owns the waterworks or light plant can it 
exceed five per cent. But it cannot be stated just what the 
tax rate for paying the debt will be. That will depend on 
the amount of the debt and the entire valuation of all prop¬ 
erty in the city. It will vary with the years. But it is the 
duty of the city council to fix it at such an amount as will 
pay the interest annually and the debt itself within twenty 
years after it was created. 

307. Benefit Assessments.—The taxes discussed in 
the preceding section do not include the cost of constructing 
sidewalks or paving streets. Those costs are charged against 
the abutting property-owner, usually in proportion to the 
number of front feet he has fronting on the street or sidewalk 
to be improved. But sometimes they are charged according 
to the area or number of square yards in his lot or the value 
of the lot. In all cities the cost of new sidewalks are charged 
to the abutting property. In cities of one or two classes 
the cost of grading the street and bringing it to a general 
level are paid out of the city treasury, and the costs of paving 
and guttering are paid by the abutting property-owners; in 
others, the entire cost, both of grading and paving, is paid 
by the property-owner. The costs of a public sewer are 
paid by the whole city out of revenue in the treasury; but 
the costs of district sewers are charged against real estate 
in the district drained by it. 


268 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


These charges for sidewalks, streets and district sewers 
are not the taxes referred to in section 306. They are not in 
strict sense taxes at all, although they are usually referred to 
as “special taxes;” they are, rather, charges for benefits re¬ 
ceived by the property against which they are assessed be¬ 
cause of the public irnprovement, and are for that reason in 
law often referred to as “benefit assessments.” The money 
paid therefor cannot be used for the purposes for which 
money received as taxes may be used, that is, for paying any 
of the ordinary expenses of the city, but it can be used only 
for the purpose for which it is assessed—the construction of 
the sidewalk, the paving of the street, etc. Sometimes the 
money does not go into the city treasury at all, but what are 
called “special tax bills,” indicating the amount each abut¬ 
ting property-owner is to pay as his share of the cost of the 
sidewalk, street, etc., are issued to the contractor who does 
the work in payment therefor, and then he has the right to 
have the circuit court charge the amount of that “special 
tax bill” against the property, and if it is not paid, the prop¬ 
erty may be sold by the sheriff. 

The city council (in the case of the larger cities, on the 
recommendation of other officers of the city) has the right to 
determine when a new sidewalk is needed and to order the 
work to be done and how and of what material. When it 
has done that, the owner of the property may put it down 
himself within a certain time, and if he fails to do that the 
city will have it done and charge the cost up to him. And if 
the improvement is the macadamizing or paving of a street 
or the construction of a district sewer, the city contracts with 
some one to do the work and then apportions the cost among 
the property-owners, and issues special tax bills for the 
amount. 

308. Police Regulations.—As a city grows in size and 
density, greater care must be taken to preserve the health 
of its inhabitants. The closer men get to each other the 


CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


269 


more likely are their acts to transgress upon the rights of 
each other. So a city has the right to establish reasonable 
regulations over those acts of its inhabitants which may af¬ 
fect mutual rights. It may abate nuisances, establish quar¬ 
antine against contagious diseases, prevent pig sties, dairies 
and slaughterhouses within the corporate limits, forbid the 
throwing of slops in the street and the obstruction of side¬ 
walks by goods boxes and shade trees. It may, in order to 
ward off disastrous fires, prevent the building of wooden 
houses on certain blocks, and it may confine livery stables to 
certain streets. It may regulate the speed of trains, street 
cars, horses and vehicles within the city limits. There are 
many other things it may do for preserving the health, the 
life, the peace or the morals of the inhabitants. Regulations 
of that kind are called “police regulations,” and the police 
powers of a city depend on the class to which it belongs—the 
higher the class the greater its powers. But no city can ex¬ 
ercise any power of this kind except such as is specifically 
given it by the Legislature, and even then it can exercise 
it only in a reasonable way. 

309. City Government is the weak part of American 
government. In no other are honesty and efficiency so diffi¬ 
cult to obtain. In no other are taxes so often wasted. In no 
other is injustice so often done to the property holder. In no 
other does the lawless, the idle, the mean man exert such 
power. In no other is it so difficult to get upright and com¬ 
petent men to become candidates for office. In no other are 
men of wealth and education so unwilling to exert their 
influence to elect to office efficient and capable men, or to be¬ 
come officers themselves. There are many reasons why this 
is true. To discuss intelligently these reasons would far 
outrun the limits of a book like this. But the remedy is at 
present largely in the hands of the voters of the city, espe¬ 
cially of the smaller cities. But no plan could be suggested 
that would be a remedy in every case. A plan that would 


270 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


prove efficient in one city would fail in another of different 
conditions. To be efficient the plan employed must be sug¬ 
gested by local conditions. But in every city the remedy 
can be found if the upright voters try hard enough to find it. 


Questions on Chapter VII. 

1. What right has the State given to cities? (287) 

2. How are the powers of a city limited? (287) 

3. What power may a city exercise? (287) 

4. What are the officers of a city? (287) 

5. Why is it necessary to have city government? (288) 

6. How are cities now classified and organized? (289) 

7. What is that general statute? (289) 

8. How does the charter limit the city’s powers? (289) 

9. How may an unorganized town be incorporated? (289) 

10. How are cities governed? (290) 

11. To what subjects do ordinances relate? (290) 

12. How are cities classified, and give the classes? (291) 

13. How do these classes differ? (291) 

14. How many cities of the fourth class? (292) 

15. Who is the chief executive officer, and name his duties? (292) 

16. Describe how boards of aldermen are elected. (293) 

17. What duties does the board perform? (293) 

18. By whom are some of its duties performed? (293) 

19. What is said about the marshal? (294) 

20. The police judge? (295) 

21. What duties are performed by the clerk, assessor and treasurer? 

(296) 

22. What is said of third class cities? (297) 

23. How are their affairs regulated? (297) 

24. What is said of factory inspection? (297) 

25. What is said of second class cities? (298) 

26. How is the common council composed? (298) 

27. What is said of first class cities? (299) 

28. What is said of registration of voters? (299) 

29. How was Kansas City organized? (300) 

30. What is the municipal assembly called? (300) 

31. How is it composed? (300) 

32. How many members in each house and how elected? (300) 

33. When does an ordinance become effective? (300) 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


271 


34. How is the police department managed? (300) 

35. What is said about St. Louis? (301) 

36. How is the police department governed? (301) 

37. How are the legislative powers vested? (301) 

38. What provision is made for villages? (302) 

39. When are elections held in cities? (303) 

40. How far may city limits be extended? (304) 

41. By whom is the extension made? (304) 

42. How is property assessed in cities of the first and second class? 

(305) 

43. How is it assessed in cities of the third class? (305) 

44. How is it assessed in cities of the fourth class? (305) 

45. What is the maximum rate of taxation for city current expenses? 

(306) 

46. What is said of the provision fixing a maximum rate? (306) 

47. What is said of a poll tax? (306) 

48. How else may revenue be raised? (306) 

49. For what purpose may debts be created? (306) 

50. How may it be created and to what extent? 306) 

51. How are the costs of sidewalks and macadamizing streets paid? 

(307) 

52. In what proportion? (307) 

53. How are costs of public and district sewers paid? (307) 

54. Are these charges strictly taxes? (307) 

55. How can the money collected from them be used? (307) 

56. Suppose benefit assessments are not paid? (307) 

57. Who may determine when a sidewalk is needed? (307) 

58. What method is used in macadamizing streets, paving streets and 

constructing sewers? (307) 

59. What is said of police regulations? (308) 

60. What is said about the difficulties of city government? (309) 


CHAPTER VIII. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

310. Purposes of Education. —Education is for the 

purpose of preparing one for right living. One’s powers are 
increased almost in proportion as he becomes acquainted 



272 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


with the things that make a civilized and rich people, or with 
the elements that constitute a great country. The educa¬ 
tional duties of the State consist largely in preparing its 
children to become useful citizens. In order that every per¬ 
son may acquire an education, public schools have been 
established by law. The State schools are divided into 
common schools, consolidated schools, town schools, city 
schools, normal schools and a university. 

311. Common School Districts.—Whenever there 
are twenty children between six and twenty years of age, in 
any locality not organized into a school district, the voters 
thereof are authorized to organize such a district, which may 
be irregular in shape and contain any number of children of 
school age, above twenty. If the unorganized territory con¬ 
tains less than twenty children, it may be added to any 
adjoining district. New districts may also be formed by 
dividing those already organized. But that cannot be done 
unless each of the districts affected, including the one to be 
formed, contains as many as twenty children of school age. 

In each common school district are three directors and 
at least one school house and one teacher. 

A rural school having six directors is classified as a con¬ 
solidated school district. A district having six directors in 
which is a city of the fourth class or an incorporated village 
is classed as a town school. A district in which is a city of 
the first, second or third class is classified as a city school. 

312. Annual Meeting.—The law authorizes all the 
legal voters of a common school district to meet on the first 
Tuesday of April of each year, and (1) to elect by ballot one 
director for three years; (2) to determine the length of the 
school term for the next year in excess of eight months, and 
(3) the rate they will tax themselves in excess of forty cents 
on the hundred dollars valuation, if any, for maintaining 
the school; and if the district has no school house, or desires 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


273 


a new one, to vote (4) for the erection of such a house, and 
to determine (5) on what amount they will further tax them¬ 
selves for such purpose; (6) to decide on changes of the bound¬ 
aries of the district, and (7) to vote (once in four years) 
for a county school superintendent; and to transact other 
business. 

313. School Boards.—The school board of a common 
school district consists of three directors, each of whom 
holds office for three years, one being elected each year. A 
director must be a citizen of the United States, a resident 
taxpayer, a qualified voter of the district, and must have 
paid a state and county tax within one year next preceding 
his election. A director of any school must possess these 
qualifications. 

314. Powers of School Board.—(1) The school board 
is required to make rules and regulations for the government 
of the school. If it fails to do so, the teacher can make such 
rules or enforce those made for a previous teacher. (2) It 
is required to continue the school for eight months in each 
year, if a tax of forty cents on the hundred dollars valuation 
and the district’s share of the other school funds will suffice 
to pay the expenses of such term; if the funds in its hands 
will be sufficient for a longer term, it can continue the school 
as many months as it may deem wise. (3) If the annual 
meeting has authorized the building of a school-house, it can 
issue and sell bonds of the district to obtain money for such 
building, and may direct a levy upon the property of the 
district to pay these bonds. (4) It is required to employ 
legally qualified teachers. The contract must be signed by 
the teacher and the president of the board, and attested by 
the clerk. But no contract is binding unless the teacher 
holds a teacher’s certificate, which must be in force for the 
full term for which the contract is made; and no teacher can 
be discharged when once employed till such certificate is 

18 


274 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


revoked by the county superintendent. And these are the 
powers of school boards in all districts. 

315. City, Town and Village Schools.—The stat¬ 
utes provide that school districts embracing cities and towns 
may, by a vote of the people, organize into a city or town 
school. Such schools have six directors, and a school build¬ 
ing may be erected in each school ward, and one general high 
school may also be provided. If the school revenue is suffic¬ 
ient these schools must be kept open not less than eight 
months nor more than ten months in a year. Each is con¬ 
trolled by a board of six directors, two of whom are elected 
each year. In these districts, instead of an “annual meet¬ 
ing,” such as is conducted in rural schools, there is an elec¬ 
tion, conducted very much as other general elections are. 
They are held on the first Tuesday in April, from seven 
o’clock in the morning to six in the evening. The proposi¬ 
tions upon which the voters are to pass are printed on ballots, 
and the voter erases from his ballot any proposition he does 
not approve. Those propositions relate to the same sub¬ 
jects that an annual school meeting may consider, as men¬ 
tioned in section 312. 

A city school district is a different corporation from' the 
city government. It may have different boundaries. It 
may include territory that the city does not. Its officers are 
in no wise answerable to any city officer for their conduct. It 
is a separate organization. Although it may embrace the 
same inhabitants and the same territory as does the city, it 
is just as independent of the city government as is any rural 
school in the county, except, of course, city police regula¬ 
tions concerning the public health must be observed, and the 
school property is chargeable with its share of sidewalks and 
street improvements, but it cannot be otherwise taxed. 

316. Taxation and Length of School Term.—It is 

the policy of the law to maintain a school for at least eight 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


275 


months each year in each school district, and whether or not 
there will be a longer term often depends on the voters them¬ 
selves. The taxpayers in each district are by law compelled 
to submit to a tax of forty cents on each hundred dollars of 
the assessed valuation of all property in the district, for em¬ 
ploying teachers and paying the incidental expenses of the 
school, unless a less tax rate, together with the district’s 
share of the various public school funds, will be sufficient to 
maintain a school for eight months. If a less rate, together 
with the district’s share of the public funds, will yield enough 
to maintain an eight months’ term, the board may make the 
tax rate any sum it pleases less than forty cents. The board 
is bound to levy a rate of forty cents if that sum is necessary 
to maintain an eight months’ school. And the board can 
levy forty cents, without consulting the taxpayers, even 
though that rate would provide for a nine or a ten months’ 
term. But it cannot exceed that rate unless a majority of 
the taxpayers authorize it to do so, and then it must fix the 
rate at such sum as they direct. 

This rate of forty cents applies to all districts in the 
State except in those in cities having one hundred thousand 
inhabitants or more, where the rate is sixty cents on the hun¬ 
dred dollars valuation instead of forty. 

These are the rates that the boards may fix without con¬ 
sulting the taxpayers, but in all rural districts the rate may 
be increased to sixty-five cents on the hundred dollars valua¬ 
tion by a majority of the tax-paying voters, and in all city or 
town districts to one hundred cents. These are the tax rates 
for “school purposes,” which mean the employment of teach¬ 
ers, paying janitors, buying fuel, and “incidental expenses.” 
The money raised for school purposes can not be used for 
building a school house or for paying interest on a permanent 
debt or for any other purpose. 

317. Taxation for School Houses.—Any school dis¬ 
trict may contract a debt for school houses, furniture or 


276 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


building sites. And the property within the district must 
be taxed to pay that debt. And in addition to the tax to 
pay that debt, the property within the district may be fur¬ 
ther taxed to create a fund to build other houses. It may 
be taxed for one or both of these purposes just as the voters 
direct. 

But no district can create a debt or authorize such a tax 
until two-thirds of the qualified voters of the district voting 
at an election authorize it. The vote may be taken at an 
annual school meeting or a special election, but in either case 
two-thirds of the voters voting at an election must vote 
“for the loan” before it can be legally charged against the 
district. If that is done, then thereafter the school board 
must annually levy such a tax as will pay the interest as it 
accrues, and they must also levy such a tax, not to exceed 
forty cents on the hundred dollars valuation, as will pay the 
debt itself within twenty years. But the debt of a district 
can at no time be increased if that then existing equals five 
per cent of the assessed valuation of all property within the 
district. 

But after having created a debt equal to five per cent, 
the patrons of a school may yet want other school house 
room. Suppose after the district has voted a loan equal to 
five per cent and built a school house, the school house burns 
down without insurance; its taxpayers of course must be 
taxed to pay that loan; or suppose the voters do not wish 
their district to go in debt for a school house; or suppose 
after authorizing a loan they find that it will not build quite 
so good a house as they need. In any such case, a fund for 
building purposes may be created when two-thirds of the 
qualified voters of the district vote for a tax for that purpose, 
which cannot exceed sixty-five cents in rural schools, and one 
hundred cents in city or town schools, but this tax can be 
voted for only one year at a time, but may be voted each 
succeeding year. It can be levied for no year unless two- 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


277 


thirds of the voters authorize its levy for that year. But the 
tax to pay a loan, when once authorized, must be levied by 
the board each year until the entire debt is paid. 

Thus we see that taxes for all school purposes may be 
less than forty cents on the hundred dollars, and may by the 
majority of the taxpayers in a city or town school be raised 
to one hundred cents for current “school purposes,” and by 
two-thirds of the voters be raised to forty cents more to pay 
debts for building purposes, and in the same way may be yet 
raised to one hundred cents more for buildings. 

318. School Taxes, How Used.—The taxes raised for 
paying teachers and incidental purposes cannot be used for 
building purposes, nor can the taxes raised for building pur¬ 
poses or for paying the debts of a district be used for paying 
teachers. Taxes can be used only for the purposes for which 
they were levied. 

319. Power to Fix Tax Rate.—The power given to a 
majority of the taxpayers of a district to determine what 
shall be the tax rate for school purposes, and that given to 
two-thirds of the voters to determine whether or not an 
additional tax shall be levied to pay debts or to create a 
building fund, is unusual in Missouri government. It is the 
only case in which the voters have the right to determine 
what the tax rate shall be. In county government the rate 
of taxation is fixed by the county court, but it cannot exceed 
a certain maximum rate. In city government, the rate is 
fixed by the council and mayor, and can be fixed at any rate 
less than a certain maximum rate prescribed by law. But 
in school districts the board can fix the tax rate at certain 
minimum rates prescribed by law, but a majority of the tax¬ 
payers, if they choose, may fix upon a higher rate for “school 
purposes,” and two-thirds of the voters may fix a higher rate 
for building purposes or for paying the district’s debts, but 
even then the taxpayers or voters cannot exceed certain 
maximum rates prescribed by law. 


278 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


These provisions show how much concerned the State 
is in education. The State forces the school board to fix a 
tax rate at any rate less than forty cents on the hundred dol¬ 
lars valuation that may be necessary to provide an eight 
months’ school, but if any less rate will not provide an eight 
months’ school, then the board must fix the rate at forty 
cents. But if the taxpayers desire a longer term than a tax 
of forty cents will provide for, a majority of them can in¬ 
crease that rate to any amount they may wish less than six¬ 
ty-five cents on the hundred dollars valuation in rural dis¬ 
tricts and one hundred cents in city or town schools. Thus 
the law puts it largely in the hands of the taxpayers to say 
how efficient their schools will be. If the school is not a good 
one the taxpayers themselves are largely responsible. Taxes 
are always a burden, but it is usually true that the more 
money the people spend for schools the less they have to 
spend for policemen and criminal courts. It is also true that 
the value of property in a community increases almost as 
general intelligence increases. Good schools always pay the 
taxpayer. 

320. School Funds.—There are several kinds of per¬ 
manent school funds created by law for the purpose of sup¬ 
porting state schools. The local fund has already been dis¬ 
cussed ; it is the fund raised by direct taxation upon the prop¬ 
erty of the taxpayers in each district. But in addition to 
that there are the Public School Fund, the Seminary Fund, 
the County Fund, the Township Fund and special district 
funds—all permanent funds. 

321. The Public School Fund.—There is a perma¬ 
nent endowment of the public schools of the entire State 
which is by the Constitution called the “Public School Fund.” 
It amounts to more than three millions of dollars, and only 
the annual income therefrom can be used for the support of 
the schools. It had its origin in an act of Congress dated 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


279 


June 13, 1812, the passage of which was secured largely by 
Thomas F. Riddick, an honored citizen of Missouri, who 
rode on horseback all the way to Washington to persuade 
Congressmen to support the measure. That act and other 
subsequent acts of Congress gave to Missouri certain saline 
and swamp lands lying within her borders, to be sold and the 
proceeds to be turned into the State Treasury, to be invested 
by the State and the income to be used for public schools. 
To this fund have also been added certain fines and forfeit¬ 
ures, and unclaimed escheats. Sometimes it occurs that 
persons without known or ascertainable heirs die without 
wills, leaving estates. The proceeds of such estates are 
turned into the State Treasury, and if not claimed within 
twenty years are transferred to the Public School Fund. 

322. The Seminary Fund is another state school 
fund, the proceeds of which are applied to the support of the 
State University, which has been established at Columbia 
for the purpose of affording the highest education in collegi¬ 
ate learning, in the law, in medicine, in electrical and civil 
engineering, in scientific agriculture, and in other branches 
of useful study. This fund amounts to about one million 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It began in the 
grant by Congress in 1818 and 1820 of 72 sections of un¬ 
entered land lying in Jackson, Lewis, Scott and other coun¬ 
ties. These lands, which in the aggregate amounted to two 
whole townships, were sold and the proceeds, amounting to 
about one hundred thousand dollars, were used to provide 
an endowment for the University. In 1862 Congress gave 
certain other lands in the State in aid of education in agri¬ 
culture, and these were sold about 1883, and nearly four 
hundred thousand dollars more was added to the Seminary 
Fund. Then in 1891 Congress reimbursed Missouri for the 
money that had been raised from the citizens of this State 
($646,958.23) by the “direct tax” mentioned in section 62, and 
this was added to the Seminary Fund. Other small sums 


280 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


have been added from time to time, until the entire Seminary 
Fund has risen to what has already been stated. It is a per¬ 
manent endowment for the State University, and the School 
of Mines and Metallurgy, which is a part of the University. 

323. Collateral Inheritance Tax.—The Legislature 
in 1899 provided for a collateral inheritance tax of five per 
cent on the estates of persons dying without father, mother, 
husband, wife, children or other descendants, and four-fifths 
of the money arising from that tax goes to the University, 
and the balance to the School of Mines and Metallurgy. 
This tax yields at least one hundred thousand dollars a year 
and some years very much more than that. It is all used in 
permanent improvements or current expenses. 

324. How Invested.—The Public School Fund and 
the Seminary Fund are invested in “certificates of indebted¬ 
ness’’ issued by the State Auditor to the State Board of Edu¬ 
cation. These certificates are simply non-negotiable State 
bonds. They are simply debts which the State owes those 
funds, and therefore the Constitution calls them “sacred 
obligations of the State.’’ They express an agreement on 
the part of the State to raise by means of taxation the annual 
interest they bear, and to pay the principals thereof whenever 
the people by a change in their Constitution shall direct 
some other way in which to invest them. Invested in this 
way the State itself is the debtor or the borrower of the money 
belonging to these funds, and invested in this way those funds 
can be wasted or lost only when the people of the State lose 
their sacred honor. 

325. Legislative Appropriations.—The Constitution 
provides that at least one-fourth of the ordinary State reve¬ 
nues shall be appropriated for the use of public schools. Since 
1887 the Legislature has appropriated one-third of the reve¬ 
nues to this purpose. The entire amount annually turned 
over to the schools from these appropriations and from the 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


281 


interest on the State Public School Fund is about one mil¬ 
lion five hundred thousand dollars, and is equal to over 
$1.80 for every child of school age in the State. This money 
is apportioned to the various counties by the State Superin¬ 
tendent of Public Schools according to the number of teach¬ 
ers and according to the number of days all the children have 
attended school during the past year, and each county’s share 
is by the county clerk divided up among the school districts 
of the county in the same proportion, and the money turned 
over to the county treasurer and by him paid out to teachers. 
By this means the State aids the whole State to have public 
schools, but especially counties of small taxable wealth. 
There are twenty-five counties in the State that get more 
money from this source for their schools than they pay into 
the State Treasury for all purposes. 

326. County School Fund.—There is also in each 
county a County School Fund which is loaned and the inter¬ 
est used to aid the public schools of the county. It is now 
derived almost entirely from fines, penalties and forfeitures. 
The net proceeds of fines imposed in the circuit court and in 
magistrates’ courts go into this fund, as do the amounts real¬ 
ized from bonds forfeited to the State by those who escape 
after having given bail, as do also those of other forfeited 
bonds. In some counties a part of this fund has been de¬ 
rived from the sale of swamp lands lying therein, which were 
granted to the State by Congress, and then to the counties 
by the General Assembly, to be sold and the net proceeds 
added to the public school fund of the county. 

The County School Fund is loaned by the county court 
on unmortgaged real estate worth at least twice as much as 
the amount loaned, and the interest as it is paid is appor¬ 
tioned to the varioiis school districts of the county in pro¬ 
portion to the number of children of school age in each. The 
aggregate of all the county school funds of the State is nearly 


282 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


six million dollars, and is increasing at the rate of nearly one 
hundred thousand dollars a year. ' • 

327. Township School Funds.—In each county there 
is also a separate Township School Fund. The laws of Con¬ 
gress and of Missouri required that section 16 of every Con¬ 
gressional township be sold and the money added to a town¬ 
ship school fund. The money is loaned by the county court, 
just as is the County School Fund, and the interest as it is 
paid is distributed among the school districts of each town¬ 
ship in proportion to the number of children of school age in 
each. The aggregate of these funds in all the counties is 
more than two million seven hundred thousand dollars. 

328. Special District Funds.—The early French 
towns in this State, such as St. Louis, St. Charles, New Mad¬ 
rid and others, always had a common field which had been 
used by all the inhabitants of the town for pasture and other 
purposes. That of St. Louis, for instance, was called the 
Grand Prairie Common Field. By an act of Congress, dated 
June 13, 1812, these commons were given to the inhabitants 
of the town to which they belonged '‘for the support of 
schools,” and by subsequent acts of the Legislature and in 
some cases by vote of the people also, these lands were sold 
and a part or all of the moneys turned over to the public 
school districts of the towns. Besides, special gifts or be¬ 
quests have been made to some districts. These funds con¬ 
stitute, in part, what is classed as the Permanent Special Dis¬ 
trict funds. They amount altogether to about one million 
six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. At least a million 
and a half of that amount belongs to the school district in 
which St. Louis is situated, and a part of it was obtained from 
the sale of a part of section sixteen of the township covered 
by the city, and by fines and forfeitures. But as that city 
is a county within itself and there is there no longer a Con¬ 
gressional township, the County Fund, the Township Fund 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


283 


and the Special District Fund are all consolidated into one, 
and is usually classed as a Special District Fund, although it 
has, in part, been created in the same way that the County 
Fund and Township Fund have been in other counties. 

329. Public School Endowment.—The Public School 
Fund, the County School funds, the Township School funds 
and the Special District funds amount to more than thirteen 
million dollars, and they yield about seven hundred thousand 
dollars annually; and when to these are added the one-third 
of the State revenues appropriated by the Legislature, which 
amounts to more than a million more, the entire amount 
which the public schools receive each year, in addition to 
the taxes raised in the various districts, is about one million 
eight hundred thousand dollars. 

330. Cost of Public Schools.—In addition to the 
money appropriated by the Legislature and the income from 
the various school funds, the school boards raise over ten 
millions annually for ‘‘school purposes” by local taxation, 
and about three millions more for paying debts and other 
‘‘building purposes.” The entire cost of the public schools 
for the year ending June 30, 1910, was $13,905,188.80. The 
annual cost of the University and the six Normal Schools is 
over one million more. 

There are about one million children of school age in the 
State, and a little over four per cent of these are colored. 
There are ten thousand school districts, and about seventeen 
thousand teachers. 

The permanent public school funds of the State of all kinds on July 1, 


1910, were as follows: 

Amount of State School Fund. $3,159,281.14 

Amount of Seminary Fund. 1.259,988.20 

Amount of County School Funds. 5,722,550.42 

Amount of Township and Special District Funds. 4,103,441.43 


Total of all Funds. $14,245,261.19 


331. State Normals.—For the purpose of educating 
teachers the Legislature has established five normal schools 








284 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


for white persons—at Kirksville, Warrensburg, Cape Girar¬ 
deau, Springfield and Maryville—and one for negroes, Lin¬ 
coln Institute, at Jefferson City. Each of these schools is 
managed by a board of regents appointed by the Governor, 
and these boards elect a faculty or a set of skilled teachers. 
The number of students in these schools is large. The schools 
are supported by the State out of money appropriated for 
that purpose by the Legislature. 

332. Schools for Colored Children.—The Constitu¬ 
tion says: “Separate schools shall be established for the 
education of children of African descent.” No colored child 
can attend a school established for the education of white 
children; nor can a white child attend a school for colored 
children. The school for colored children must be of the 
same length as that for white children in the same district, 
and their school must give the same advantages and privi¬ 
leges as are provided in schools of corresponding grade for 
white children in the district. Their teachers are paid in the 
same way, out of the same fund. And if there are fifteen 
colored children of school age in the district a school must be 
provided for them by the school board, or the district will 
lose its part of the public school funds for the next year; and 
if there are a less number, they can attend any school for 
colored children in the county and the board must pay their 
tuition. 

333. County Superintendent.—In each county there 
is a county superintendent of public schools, elected by the 
qualified voters at the annual school meetings in 1911, and 
every four years thereafter, for a term of four years. He is 
paid a salary varying from seven hundred to fifteen hundred 
dollars a year, the amount depending on the population of 
the county. Four hundred dollars of the amount is paid 
by the State, and the rest by the county. He has general 
supervision over all the schools of the county, except town 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


285 


or city schools employing a superintendent who devotes at 
least one-half his time to the direct work of supervision. 
He is required to visit each of such schools at least once a 
year, and to give such aid as he can, both to the teacher and 
board, in bettering the school work and conditions. He 
holds annually not less than six public meetings in different 
places in the county for discussing educational matters and 
counseling teachers and boards, and teachers and directors 
are required to attend these meetings. He adopts a course of 
study for these schools, and a plan of grading them, and ar¬ 
ranges a system of final examination and graduation of pupils 
who have completed the course of study prescribed by the 
State for rural schools. He conducts examinations, for two 
days each, three times a year, of those wishing certificates 
authorizing them to teach in the public schools. The exam¬ 
inations are public and written. The questions to be an¬ 
swered are prepared by the State Superintendent, and the 
papers of applicants for a first grade certificate are graded 
by him, as are also, upon request, the papers of those desir¬ 
ing a second or third grade certificate, but unless such re¬ 
quest is made they are graded by the County Superintend¬ 
ent. In every case, whoever grades the paper, the latter 
officer grants the certificate, but he can not grant it unless 
the grades reach certain percentages fixed .by the statute, 
nor unless the applicant is of good moral character. There 
are three grades of certificates, first, second and third, the 
third grade being valid for one year and the second grade for 
two years in the county in which issued, and the first grade 
for three years anywhere in the State. To obtain a third 
grade certificate the applicant must obtain an average grade 
of 80 per cent on spelling, reading, penmanship, language 
lessons, geography, arithmetic, English grammar. United 
States history, civil government (including the government 
of Missouri), agriculture, pedagogy, and physiology and 
hygiene, with special reference to the effect of alcoholic 


286 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


drinks and stimulants and narcotics generally upon the hu¬ 
man body. To obtain a second grade certificate the appli¬ 
cant must obtain an average grade of 85 on the foregoing 
subjects and algebra and literature. To obtain a first grade 
certificate the applicant must obtain an average grade of 90 
per cent on all the foregoing subjects, and upon one branch 
of history, either ancient, mediaeval or modern, or English, 
and one branch of science, either physical geography, physics 
or elementary biology, and must have had eight months’ 
experience in teaching. In addition, all applicants who have 
had four months’ experience as teachers are graded on teach¬ 
ing ability and management. Besides, after September 1, 
1912, the applicant for a first or second grade certificate must 
have taken the first year’s course in an accredited high 
school, or its equivalent, and after September 1, 1914, must 
have completed two years of such high school work, or its 
equivalent, and after September 1, 1916, must have com¬ 
pleted three years, and after September 1, 1918, four years, 
of such high school course of study, or its equivalent. 

334. Text-Book Commission.—There is also a coun¬ 
ty text-book commission, composed of the County Superin¬ 
tendent, one member appointed by the county court, and 
another appointed by the State Board of Education. This 
commission adopts the text-books to be used in the schools 
of the county, and contracts with publishers for the sale of 
such books, for a period of five years, at designated prices, 
and then no other book can be legally used in the county 
while such contract lasts. The adoptions of the county com¬ 
mission do not apply to all the schools of the county; they 
apply to all except those in cities and towns having one thou¬ 
sand children of school age or a high school affiliated with the 
State University, and in them the board of directors may 
select the books to be used in the schools, and may contract 
with publishers for their sale. 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


287 


335. Non-Sectarian Education.—The Constitution 
does not permit the public school funds to be used in aid of 
any church school. There are a great number of such schools 
in Missouri. The various churches have established col¬ 
leges, seminaries, academies and other schools, and the 
people who contribute to them, even though they send 
their children to them, must also pay their share of taxes 
for the support of the public schools, and the taxes they pay 
for that purpose cannot be used to support these church or 
private schools. The Constitution says that “neither the 
General Assembly, nor any county, city, town, township or 
school district shall ever make an appropriation, or pay from 
any public fund whatever anything in aid of any religious 
creed, church or sectarian purpose, or to help to support or 
sustain any private or public school, academy, seminary, 
college, university or other institution of learning, controlled 
by any religious creed, church or sectarian denomination.” 
This language prevents the use of public school moneys for 
any school except for such as the State has directed to be 
established. 

336. Exempt From Taxation.—But it is not the pol¬ 
icy of the State to tax church or private schools, for any pur¬ 
pose. The Constitution says that lots to the extent of one 
acre and the buildings thereon, within any incorporated city 
or within one mile thereof, if “used exclusively for religious 
worship, for schools or for purposes purely charitable” are 
exempt from taxation of all kinds; and lots to the extent of 
five acres one mile or more distant from such city, when 
used for such purpose, are exempt also. 

The endowments of colleges and of other church or pri¬ 
vate schools, if they consist of money which is loaned, are 
usually not taxed, but so much of such endowments as is 
invested in lands is taxed. 


288 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


Questions on Chapter VIII. 

1. Of what do the educational duties of the State consist? (310) 

2. For what purposes have public schools been established? (310) 

3. How are public schools divided? (310) 

4. How and when may a school district be organized? (311) 

5. Suppose the unorganized territory has less than twenty chil¬ 

dren? (311) 

6. When may a district be divided? (311) 

7. What are the first three powers of an annual school meeting? 

(312) 

8. Suppose the district has no school house, what two other powers 

has the meeting? (312) 

9. How many school directors, length of term and how elected? 

(313) 

10. Qualifications of school director? (313) 

11. Name the first duty of the school board? The second? The 

third? The fourth? When is the contract binding? (314) 

12. What is said of city or town schools? (315) 

13. How are annual meetings held in these districts? (315) 

14. Is a city school district a part of the city government? (315) 

15. What length of term does the law seek to compel? (316) 

16. To what rate of taxation for school purposes must the taxpayers 

submit? (316) 

17. When may the board fix a less rate? (316) 

18. When is the board bound to levy forty cents? (316) 

19. Can it fix a rate of forty cents anyhow? (316) 

20. When can it exceed that rate? (316) 

21. To what districts does this forty cents rate apply? (316) 

22. ^ What is the maximum rate that may be fixed upon by the tax¬ 

payers in rural districts? In city or town schools? (316) 

23. What is meant by “school purposes?” (316) 

24. Can money raised for “school purposes” be otherwise used? 

(316) 

25. For what purposes may a district make debts? (317) 

26. How are they paid? (317) 

27. When can it create a debt? (317) ^ 

28. What is then the duty of the school board? (317) 

29. What is the maximum debt that a district can make? (317) 

30. Suppose the debts have reached five per cent, and the people 

want other school houses, how can they be had? (317) 

31. Or suppose the people have no debt and do not want any; how 

can they have a school house? (317) 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 


289 


32. How often can such a tax be levied? (317) 

33. When must the board levy taxes to pay debts? (317) 

34. For what purposes must taxes be used? (318) 

35. What is said of the power of districts to fix the rate of school 

taxes? (319) 

36. Who thus has the power to determine how efficient the schools 

shall be? (319) 

37. What are the permanent school funds? (320) 

38. What is said of the Public School Fund? (321) 

39. Can you state how the Seminary Fund began, how it was in¬ 

creased and how the income is used? (322) 

40. What is the collateral inheritance tax and how is it used? (323) 

41. How are these funds invested? (324) 

42. What are the “certificates of indebtedness?” (324) 

43. When can these funds so invested be lost? (324) 

44. How much of the state revenues are appropriated to public 

schools? (325) 

45. How is it distributed? (325) 

46. How is the County School Fund derived? (326) 

47. How is it loaned? (326) 

48. How much does it amount to in all the counties? (326) 

49. Whence was the Township School Fund derived? (327) 

50. What is said of the Special District funds? (328) 

51. How much money do the public schools receive each year above 

the local taxes? (329) 

52. How much is raised by local taxation? (330) 

53. What was the entire cost of the public schools in 1907? (330) 

54. How many children and how many teachers? (330) 

55. How many State Normals and what are they for? (331) 

56. What about schools for colored children? (332) 

57. Mention some duties of the county superintendent. (333) 

58. What is his term and salary and how chosen?- (333) 

59. Can the superintendent be a woman? (333) 

60. What is said about teachers’ certificates? (333) 

61. What are the duties of the Text-Book Commission? (334) 

62. Can public school funds be used to aid church schools? (335) 

63. What portion of the property of church schools may be taxed? 

(336) 


19 


290 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


CHAPTER IX. 

ELECTIONS. 

337. Purpose of Elections. —Americans believe in the 
rule of the people. It is an underlying principle in America, 
one that no man has ever been able to withstand, that the 
will of the majority shall control; and in order that that will 
may be known, the State has provided for elections at which 
each citizen may express by his ballot his choice for candi¬ 
dates or for a political principle. As this is the people’s 
government, supported by taxes collected from the people, 
the people should have the right to choose the officers who 
are to represent them. 

338. Time of Holding Elections. —The laws of Mis¬ 
souri require a general election to be held throughout the 
State on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of Novem¬ 
ber in each even-numbered year for the election of all State 
and county officers, judges, members of Congress and State 
Senators, whose terms are about to expire. The Governor, 
Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney- 
General, and at least one judge of the Supreme Court, and 
one judge of each of the courts of appeals, and one Railroad 
Commissioner, are elected on the same day that Presidential 
electors are chosen (leap years), and Representatives in Con¬ 
gress and in the General Assembly, and half the State Sena¬ 
tors are elected at the same time. Two years later the Super¬ 
intendent of Public Schools, one Railroad Commissioner, at 
least one Supreme Judge, one-half of the State Senators, and 
Representatives in Congress and in the General Assembly, 
are elected. • And at one or the other of these general elec¬ 
tions county officers, and once in six years judges of the cir¬ 
cuit court, are elected. 

339. Precincts. —In order that each citizen may have 
full opportunity to cast his ballot, the law provides that the 


ELECTIONS. 


291 


county court of each county shall, several weeks before an 
election, designate a voting place in each township of the 
county, and more than one if the convenience of the inhab¬ 
itants may require it. This voting place is called a precinct. 
The sheriff is required to provide two ballot boxes for each 
precinct, and to turn them over to the constable, who on the 
morning of the election delivers them to the judges of the 
election. 

340. Judges and Clerks.—The county court is also 
required to appoint for each precinct six judges of election 
who in turn appoint four clerks. Three of the judges are 
taken from the political party that polled the largest number 
of votes at the last general election, and three from the party 
that polled the next highest number. Two of these judges, 
one from each party, write their names or initials on the back 
of the tickets and deliver one of each party to each voter, 
who takes them to a booth provided for the purpose, where 
he can be free from observation. There he folds the one he 
wishes to vote apart to itself, so as to expose the initials or 
names of the judges thereon, and then hands it to one of two 
other judges called “receiving judges.” If the judges deem 
him a legal voter this ticket is deposited in the ballot box, 
and his name and the number of his vote are entered in the 
two poll-books by the clerks, and the number of his vote is 
also written on this ticket. The other tickets which were 
handed to him he must fold together, and return to the same 
judges, who place them in another large box, where they are 
kept until after the election is over and then destroyed. 
After the voting has continued in this way for an hour the 
other two judges, called “counting judges,” and two clerks 
begin to count the votes that have been cast, and while they 
are doing this the election continues, the accepted tickets 
or votes of other persons being deposited in the other ballot 
box. At the end of the second hour the counting of the tick¬ 
ets deposited in the first ballot box should be completed, and 


292 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


that ballot box returned to the polling place. Then the 
counting judges take the second ballot box and proceed to 
count the tickets in it, and while they are doing so tickets of 
other voters are placed in the first ballot box. Thus the 
voting and the counting continue throughout the day. 

'When the polls are closed and all the ballots counted, 
the number of votes cast and the number for each candidate 
are entered in each poll book, and these are signed by the 
judges and attested by the clerks, and the result of the elec¬ 
tion is publicly proclaimed. One of the poll books is trans¬ 
mitted to the county clerk within two days, and the other is 
retained in the possession of the judges of election, open to 
the inspection of all persons. 

341. Secret Ballot.—No one has any right to know 
how any man votes. Safeguards have been provided to 
secure a secret ballot, in order that the voter may be relieved 
of any intimidation, and be entirely free to vote as he desires. 
No one is allowed to attempt, in anywise, to influence his vote 
within the polling place. No one is permitted to go with 
him to the booth where he prepares his ticket; if he cannot 
prepare it himself it must be done by two judges of different 
political parties, in his presence, not in the booth, but at the 
place within the polls where the judges usually stand and 
hand out the tickets. No one is permitted to unfold or see 
the voter’s ticket before it is placed in the ballot box, and 
after it is placed there only the counting judges and clerks 
(who can not know whose ticket it is) are permitted to unfold 
it in order to properly count it, and when that is done it is 
securely locked in a box, and can never he examined by any¬ 
one except by order of a court, or of some other authorized 
officer, in a contest over the result of the election. Before 
the judges enter upon their duties at an election, they are 
required to take an oath that they will not disclose how any 
voter may vote, unless required to do so as a witness in a 
proper contest proceeding. 


ELECTIONS. 


293 


342. Ballots.—The tickets for a general election are 
furnished by the county. The county clerk superintends the 
publication of them and delivers them to the judges of elec¬ 
tion, and they are prohibited from permitting anyone to get 
possession of a ticket except a voter ready and desiring to 
vote, and he cannot take it from the polls. In order to have 
an entirely secret ballot it is necessary that the county fur¬ 
nish the tickets, and that the greatest precaution be taken 
that no person except those lawfully entitled to them at any 
time before the close of the election obtains possession of 
them. Each party has a ticket of its own, and one ticket 
of each party is handed to the voter when he applies to the 
judges to vote. On each party ticket are the names of all 
the candidates of that party properly nominated for the 
various offices to be filled. 

343. How Candidates are Nominated.—Prior to 
1907, each political party could nominate its candidates for 
office in its own way. But in 1907 the Legislature enacted 
a law which requires all candidates for state, district or 
county offices to be nominated at a primary election to be 
held on the first Tuesday in August, 1908, and every two 
years thereafter. All parties must nominate their candi¬ 
dates in that way and all on the same day. These primary 
elections are held in much the same way as general elections 
in November. There are the same precinct judges and 
clerks, appointed by the county court, and the county pays 
all other costs of the election. There must be a ticket for 
each party, and on each ticket is printed the title of each 
office and underneath the title the names of all the candidates 
of that party for that office. Any candidate for a state or 
district office can have his name printed on his party’s ticket 
by filing a written declaration designating the office for which 
he is a candidate, and paying a certain sum of'money to the 
treasurer of the party committee. Every legal voter in the 
State can vote at a primary election, but he can only vote 


294 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


his party ticket, and the judges of election give him only the 
ticket of the party he wishes to affiliate with. The candidate 
who receives the highest number of votes cast by his party 
for the office for which he was a candidate becomes the party’s 
candidate for that office. The votes are counted by the 
judges of election, county clerk and Secretary of State in 
much the same way as are the votes cast at the general elec¬ 
tion in November. 

Presidential electors are not nominated in this way. 
They are nominated by party conventions. Neither are can¬ 
didates for city offices or school directors or county school 
superintendent nominated in this way. But all candidates 
for State offices. Representatives in Congress, State Senators, 
Circuit Judges and all county officers elected in November, 
are nominated at this primary election. 

Party candidates for United States Senator are nomi¬ 
nated in November at a primary held in connection with the 
general election. But of course the Senator is elected by the 
Legislature. 

344. Independent Voting.—But no person who takes 
part in any primary election or convention is required by law 
to vote his party ticket at the general election in November. 
He can vote for whom he pleases. The law requires a blank 
line to be left after each name on each ticket, and if the 
voter does not wish to vote for the man who bears that name, 
he can scratch out the name and write in that of any candi¬ 
date on any other ticket, or that of a person whose name is 
not on any ticket. 

345. Counting the Vote.—One of the poll-books of 
each precinct, certified to by the judges and clerks of the 
election, must be transmitted to the county clerk within 
two days after the election. Within five days after the elec¬ 
tion he and two justices of the peace, or two judges of the 
county court, cast up the number of votes polled at each pre¬ 
cinct in the county, as shown by the poll-books, and to each 


ELECTIONS. 


295 


county officer receiving the highest number of votes he issues 
a certificate of election, and certifies to the Secretary of State 
the number of votes cast for State officers, judges. Presiden¬ 
tial electors and Representatives in Congress, and that of¬ 
ficer casts up the vote in all the counties for Governor, Lieu¬ 
tenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, 
Attorney-General, Railroad Commissioner, and Superintend¬ 
ent of Public Schools, and sends these returns to the Speaker 
of the House, who, in the presence and under the control of 
the Senate and the House, opens and publishes the same. 
The votes for candidates for all other state or district offices 
are counted by the Secretary of State in the presence of the 
Governor, and to the person receiving the highest number 
of votes is issued a certificate of election. 

346. Disposing of Ballots.—Each ticket offered to 
the judges of election by any person wishing it to be received 
as his vote, whether received and counted or rejected as 
illegal, is transmitted to the county clerk, along with the 
poll-book. He securely keeps the tickets, and is not allowed 
to read or examine them unless commanded to do so by some 
court or the Legislature, nor to permit any one else to do so. 
At the end of one year he destroys them. The rejected bal¬ 
lots are sent in, in order that the court may determine, in 
case of a contest, whether they were properly rejected or not. 

347. Hours of Voting.—The law requires that the 
polls shall be open at seven o’clock in the morning and be 
continued open till six o’clock in the evening, unless the sun 
shall set after six o’clock, in which case they shall be kept 
open till sunset, except in cities having more than twenty- 
five thousand inhabitants. In them the election begins at 
six o’clock in the morning and continues to seven in the 
evening. 

348. Elections in St. Louis.—There must be one pre¬ 
cinct in each ward in the city of St. Louis and Kansas City, 
and as nearly as practicable one for every three hundred 


. 296 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


voters. By a recent law, applicable to these cities only, the 
number of precincts has been greatly increased, and other 
details of elections there are somewhat different from those 
in the rest of the State. 

There is no county court in St. Louis, and hence the 
Legislature has enacted a law that election judges and clerks 
in that city shall be appointed by a board of four election 
commissioners, not more than two of whom belong to one 
political party. The commissioners are appointed by the 
Governor. Those belonging to the same party as the Gov¬ 
ernor choose from their own party two election judges and 
one clerk for each precinct in the city, and the other com¬ 
missioners choose two judges and one clerk from their party, 
and these four judges and two clerks have charge of the 
registration of voters and elections at that precinct. And 
this board of commissioners adds up the votes cast at the 
various precincts in the city and certifies the result, just as 
the county clerks do in the counties. 

There is a like board of election commissioners in Kansas 
City, with like duties to perform, also appointed by the 
Governor. 

349. Registration of Voters.—In all cities of twenty- 
five thousand inhabitants voters must be registered before 
the election, and no person can vote there whose name does 
not appear on the registration books. The registration com¬ 
mences usually forty days before and is continued on various 
days to within a few days of the election. In cities having 
between twenty-five and one hundred thousand inhabitants 
the registration is 'done by a special officer denominated a 
registrar, elected by the people in each election district, and 
all the registrars in the city meet as a board of revision a few 
days before the election, and determine the right of any 
person to have his name enrolled who has been denied that 
right, and strike off from any registration book any name 
which is shown to have been wrongfully enrolled. In the 


ELECTIONS. 


297 


larger cities the registration is done by the judges of election 
and clerks, under the supervision of the election commis¬ 
sioners. 

The registration of voters in cities is necessary to pre¬ 
serve the honesty of the ballot. There are always some 
legal voters living in such cities who are not known to the 
election judges, and they should be given ample time to show 
their legal right to vote before election day, and not have to 
run the risk of being challenged at the time they offer their 
ballots, when perhaps they could not readily bring forward 
persons who can establish their right to vote. There is also 
danger that ‘‘floaters” and “repeaters” may undertake to 
vote in such cities unless they are in some way headed off. 
“Repeaters” are men that try to vote at more than one pre¬ 
cinct in the city. “Floaters” are persons hired to come from 
other states or counties and vote. Frauds of this kind are 
very much more likely to occur in cities than in small towns 
and rural counties where almost every one knows every legal 
voter in the township and the precinct to which he belongs. 
To prevent such frauds, voters in such cities are required to 
register some time before election, and in this way fraudulent 
voters may be discovered and the voting list purged of them. 

350. Qualification of Voters.—Every male citizen of 
the United States (and every male person of foreign birth 
who may have declared his intention to become a citizen of 
the United States according to law, not less than one year nor 
more than five years before he offers to vote), who is twenty- 
one years of age, shall be entitled to vote, except (1) officers 
or soldiers in the army or navy, (2) persons kept at a poor 
house or an asylum at public expense, and (3) any person 
convicted of a felony and not pardoned. But before a cit¬ 
izen twenty-one years of age can vote he must have resided 
in the State at least one year, and in the county or city or 
town at least sixty days, and he can vote only in the election 
district in which he resides. 


298 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


Questions on Chapter IX. 

1. What is an underlying principle in America? (337) 

2. Why are elections provided? (337) 

3. When are general elections held? (338) 

4. What is a precinct? (339) 

5. Who provides the ballot boxes? (339) 

6. Who appoints judges of elections? (340) 

7. How many judges and clerks? (340) 

8. Describe in detail the method of voting and counting. (340) 

9. What is done when the polls are closed? (340) 

10. What is said of a secret ballot? (341) 

11. Can the judges honestly know how any one has voted? (341) 

12. When only can that be revealed? (341) 

13. Who furnishes the tickets? (342) 

14. Why is it necessary for the county to furnish them? (342) 

15. How are party candidates now nominated? What candidates 

are nominated in this way and what not? (343) 

16. Who pays the expenses of a primary election? How are the 

votes counted? (343) 

17. What provision is made for independent voting? (344) 

18. Who counts the votes cast in the county? (345) 

19. Does he use the ballots or poll-books for that purpose? (345) 

20. Who gets the certificate of election? (345) 

21. What does he do in reference to the vote for state officers, etc.? 

(345) 

22. Who casts up the votes for those officers? (345) 

23. What is done with the tickets offered to the judges of election? 

(346) 

24. What are the hours of voting? (347) 

25. How many precincts in St. Luios and Kansas City? (348) 

26. Who take the place of county court in those cities? (348) 

27. How are they chosen? (348) 

28. Who casts up the votes cast in those cities? (348) 

29. Where are voters registered? (349) 

30. How is the registration made in cities having between 25 and 

100 thousand population? (349) 

31. By whom is it done in larger cities? (349) 

32. Why does registration seem necessary? (349) 

33. Who may vote in Missouri? (350) 


TAXATION. 


299 


CHAPTER X. 

TAXATION. 

351. Importance of Subject.—Much has been said 
in previous chapters about taxation. It is the subject in 
which every citizen is constantly interested. It can never 
grow old while government lasts. Nor can it ever be said to 
be settled. A rate of taxation which was just ten years ago 
may be unjust in ten years from now, or a method of taxation 
which was once wise may no longer be wise. 

352. Purpose of Taxation.—Taxes are the burden 
which the people bear for the support of government. In 
return for those taxes, the people should be given the best 
government that can be had for that amount of money. 
Money raised by taxation does not belong to the officers; it 
can be used by them only for the purposes for which it was 
raised. Of course, a part of it will be used to pay officers for 
the work they perform for the government, and that is just. 
Officers are necessary for the performance of the work which 
the people wish the government to do for them; they are the 
government’s agents, its trustees, its representatives. Thus, 
the teacher of a public school, the circuit judge, the Governor, 
are government officers, and much of the moneys raised by 
taxation may be consumed in paying them and other of the 
various officers of the government for the work they do for 
the government, but government does not exist simply to 
pay salaries to officers. The purpose of government is “to 
protect the people in their right to life, liberty and the pur¬ 
suit of happiness;” to “promote the general welfare of the 
people,” to maintain the public peace, to keep men from 
injuring each other, to establish law and order, to protect 
men in the peaceable enjoyment of their property and their 
personal rights. Every duty of government is comprehended 


300 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


in some one of these purposes, and the people are taxed to 
the government’s expenses in carrying out these purposes. 
They cannot justly be taxed for any other purpose. But 
the government can act only through officers. A govern¬ 
ment could no more be maintained without officers than a 
large store could be conducted without clerks. But officers 
cannot justly be expected to leave their private business and 
perform for nothing the duties which the government im¬ 
poses on them, and hence a part of the taxes must always go 
towards paying them for their services. But unless the office 
accomplishes some good purpose, unless it is in some way 
useful to the people, it should be abolished, and that much 
taxes saved to the people or applied in some other way. 

So the questions of how much tax shall be levied, on 
what things, and how it shall be expended, are ever-present, 
and every man who pays taxes is concerned in them. 

353. Why the People are Taxed.—Taxes are collect¬ 
ed for the support of the government. The government has 
no way of its own to make money. It cannot engage in 
farming or merchandising or other business for gain. It has 
no money except what it takes from the people. 

354. Exemption From Taxation.—Certain property 
is exempt from taxation. No court house, no city hall, no 
school house, no cemetery, no public street or road, is tax¬ 
able; nor is any building belonging to any county or to the 
State or to the United States. Nor is any church or hospital 
or school or lodge building, used exclusively for religious or 
charitable or educational purposes, to the extent of one acre 
if located within any city, and to the extent of five acres if 
situated outside of the city, taxable. But all real estate be¬ 
longing to the church or school or lodge in excess of one acre 
or five acres, as the case may be, is taxable for all purposes. 
But no other property (except the endowments of such 
schools, etc.,) is exempt from taxation. For the payment of 


TAXATION. 


301 


private debts, the homestead and certain private property 
of the homesteader cannot be sold; but the homestead is tax¬ 
able just the same as other property. 

But no property is free from paying its share of benefit 
assessments. For the construction of sidewalks, and paving 
streets, and the building of district sewers, churches and 
private school lots and private cemeteries and private hos¬ 
pitals must pay their just proportion of the cost, just as lots 
occupied by stores and banks. 

355. Uniformity of the Tax Rate.—The amount of 
direct taxes each person must pay, in every case, except poll 
taxes, depends on the amount of property the person owns. 
All the property any person owns is required to be assessed 
or valued, and then the law fixes a uniform rate of taxes 
against property according to its value. That rate is a 
certain per cent of the assessed value of the property taxed. 
For school purposes it is the same against all property in the 
school district, for city purposes it is the same against all 
property in the city, for county purposes it is the same against 
all property in the county, for state purposes it is the same 
against all property in the State. City taxes, of course, may 
be higher in one city than in another, and county taxes may 
be higher in one county than in another, and school taxes may 
be higher in one school district than in another; but all the 
inhabitants in the city, or the county, or the school district, 
must pay the same number of cents for each hundred dollars’ 
worth of assessed property they possess, and the only way 
they can escape taxation is to escape assessment, and the 
only way they can escape assessment is to either dodge the 
assessor and conceal their property or to falsify to him the 
amount of property they own. 

356. Separate Taxes for Separate Purposes.—There 
is a tax for school purposes, and another tax for city purposes, 
and another for county purposes, and another for state pur- 


302 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


poses, and each property-owner must pay taxes for these 
various purposes. The inhabitants of no city, for instance, 
can escape taxes for state or county or school purposes simply 
because they pay taxes for the support of the government of 
the city in which they live. The city, the county, the school 
district are all separate subdivisions of the government, and 
for the support of government in each separate taxes are 
levied, and when collected can be used only for that purpose. 
There are other duties of government which cannot be per¬ 
formed by any county, or city or school district, but only by 
the State as a whole, and hence taxes must also be collected 
to support the State government. 

357. Place of Taxation.—Real estate (and that means 
lands or lots, and the houses and buildings thereon) is taxed 
in the county, or city or school district in which it is situated. 
But personal property (and that means almost all other prop¬ 
erty, such as cattle, notes, money, wagons, etc.,) is taxed in 
the county, city or school district in which the owner resides. 
The law phrase is that “personalty follows the person.” That 
means that the resident in the country may have a great deal 
of personal property, such as moneys or notes, etc., in a city, 
but it is not taxable in that city for city or school purposes, 
but is taxable for school purposes in the country district in 
which he resides, and not for city purposes at all. 

358. Time of Assessment.—The owner of property 
may be at one place on the first day of June and at another 
place on the day he is actually assessed. In order that he 
may not be taxed twice the law does not seek to know the 
amount of personal property he owns on the day he is actu¬ 
ally assessed, but the amount he owned on some recent day 
in the past. That day is by law the first day of June. He 
may between the first of June and the day he is actually 
assessed move to another place, but he is assessable at the 
place at which he resides on the first day of June, and all the 


TAXATION. 


303 


personal property he owned on that date, wherever situated, 
is taxable at that place. He is also taxable on all the real 
estate which he owned on the first day of June, but that is 
taxable where it is. 

359. Rate for State Purposes.—The annual rate of 
taxation for State purposes was by the present Constitution 
to be fixed at twenty cents on the hundred dollars valuation 
until all the property in the State should reach nine hundred 
million dollars, after which it was not to exceed fifteen cents 
on the hundred dollars. The assessed value of all property 
in Missouri is now much more than one billion dollars, and, 
therefore, the tax rate for ordinary state purposes cannot now 
exceed fifteen cents. Hence, one whose property is assessed 
at $1,000 will pay $1.50 taxes for ordinary state purposes. 

360. Rates to Pay State Debt.—The Constitution 
also provided that a tax of ten cents on the hundred dollars 
valuation should be levied annually to pay the interest and 
a part of the principal of the state debt. All the state debt 
except that due the Seminary Fund and the Public School 
Fund had been paid by 1903, and in 1902 the Constitution 
was so amended as to provide that only so much tax to pay 
the state debt shall hereafter be levied as is necessary to pay 
the interest on the debts due those funds. The tax neces¬ 
sary to pay that interest amounts to about two cents on the 
hundred dollars valuation each year, and cannot exceed three 
cents, and all moneys raised for that purpose can be used for 
no other. 

361. Licenses and Fees.—But the taxes spoken of in 
section 359 do not constitute all the state ravenues; in fact, 
scarcely one-half of them. Nearly half of those revenues, in 
some years more than half, are raised by license fees collected 
from saloons, inspection fees collected for the inspection of 
beer, license and other fees collected from insurance com¬ 
panies, commission fees collected from notaries public and 


304 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


Other officers commissioned by the Governor, incorporation 
fees collected from corporations permitted to do business in 
this State, and other fees collected from other things. 

362. Rate for County, City and School Purposes. 
—The rate of direct taxes for county purposes has been dis¬ 
cussed in the chapter on Counties, and that for city purposes 
in the chapter on Cities, Towns and Villages, and that for 
school purposes in the chapter on Public Schools. 

363. License Taxes.—The State, the county and the 
city have other ways of raising revenue besides a direct ad 
valorem tax levied against property. They do so by means 
of some kind of license or inspection tax. The State imposes 
a license on insurance companies for the privilege of doing 
business in the State, and an inspection fee against beer to 
pay the cost of inspecting the beer to see that it is made of 
certain substances and a proper proportion of each substance. 
The county may impose a license tax on saloons, and on 
shows and circuses, on peddlers and auctioneers, on private 
bankers and brokers, and some other things. The city may 
impose a license tax on saloons, on dray wagons, merchants, 
breweries, shooting galleries and on hundreds of other things. 
In this way the revenues of the State, and of the county and 
of the city may be increased. A school district can levy no 
license tax of any kind. 

364. Occupation Taxes.—Every city is given power 
to levy a tax on merchants, peddlers, shows, shooting galler¬ 
ies, vehicles and dray wagons, for the privilege of doing busi¬ 
ness in the city. Such a tax is called an occupation tax. 
Such taxes are usually small, and ought always to be com¬ 
mensurate with the advantages which such persons have over 
other persons. Thus, a dray wagon will use the streets more 
than an ordinary buggy or wagon; the policeman will spend 
more time in preserving order about a store than about a 
private residence; in a certain district a fire would cause far 
more damage than in other parts of the city, and hence more 


TAXATION. 


305 


caution will be taken to prevent fire there. It is nothing but 
right, therefore, that the owner of the dray wagon, the mer¬ 
chant or the factory owner, should pay some additional tax 
for the special privilege or favor he enjbys, and that is the 
reason for levying occupation taxes. They are taxes which 
persons wishing to carry on a certain kind of business must 
pay for that privilege. A saloon license is such a tax. An 
auctioneer’s license is such a tax. So is a license to a circus 
and many other things. Every city is given the right to 
levy an occupation tax on many kinds of pursuits, and the 
larger the city (that is, the higher is its class) the more of 
such things it may tax. But no city can impose such a tax 
on anything unless the Legislature has in so many words given 
it power to do so. All license taxes of every kind, whether 
levied for state, or county or city purposes, are in a sense 
occupation taxes. They are all charges for the privilege of 
doing an unusual kind of business. They cannot be levied 
in any case except where the Legislature by a general law 
authorizes them to be levied. % 

365. Saloon Licenses.—A majority of the qualified 
voters of each city having twenty-five hundred inhabitants 
or more, at an election held for that purpose, can altogether 
prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors within the city; and 
a majority of the qualified voters in the county residing out¬ 
side of any such city can in the same way prohibit the sale 
of intoxicating liquors in the rest of the county. This may 
be done under what is known as the Local Option Law, which 
has been a law of this State since 1887. It gives the people 
of each community the right to decide whether or not they 
will permit saloons to exist in their midst. If the law has 
once been adopted it remains in force until the question is 
again submitted to the voters, but when it has once been 
legally submitted, whether adopted or not, it cannot again 
be submitted for four years. 

20 


306 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


But if the people do not adopt the Local Option Law, 
the county court may grant to the owner of a saloon a license 
to keep a dramshop by charging him a county license tax of 
not less than $250 ^or more than $400 for each period of six 
months, and in addition a state license tax of not less than 
$100 nor more than $200 for the same period. Between 
these limits the amount of both the state and county tax is 
determined by the county court, which in almost every case 
fixes the state tax at $100, and in about one-third of the 
counties the county tax at something over $250, and in a few 
cases at $400. 

In addition to the state and county tax, the mayor and 
council of each city can also fix a city license saloon tax at 
whatever sum they may wish. They can make it as high as 
they wish or as little as they please, and if they prefer they 
can refuse to assess any license tax against saloons whatever. 
But as a matter of fact in some cities it is fixed at $1,200 a 
year, and in most cities of the third class and in many of the 
fourth class at $1,000 a year. But the city can license no 
person to keep a dramshop unless he has been licensed by the 
county court, and the court can grant no license unless the 
applicant first pays the state, and county license tax, nor can 
that court make the tax less than $250 for the county license 
and $100 for the state license for a period of six months. 

366. License, How Obtained.—The county court can 
not grant a saloon license in towns having two thousand in¬ 
habitants or more until the license is petitioned for by a ma¬ 
jority of the taxpaying citizens of the block in which the 
dramshop is to be kept; and a license to keep a dramshop in 
a town having less than two thousand inhabitants cannot be 
granted until a majority of the taxpaying citizens of the 
block in which the saloon is to be kept, and also a majority 
of those of the town, sign a petition asking that such license 
be granted. And the words “taxpaying citizen” do not mean 
voters, but mean all persons owning property assessed for 


TAXATION. 


307 


purposes of taxation, whether they be men or women. The 
petition must be renewed each year. Nor is the court even 
then compelled to grant the license. It is not compelled to 
do so until two-thirds of the taxpaying citizens in the block, 
or in the block and town, as the case may be, sign the peti¬ 
tion, and even then the court must refuse the license if the 
applicant is not a law-abiding citizen. The license cannot be 
issued in any case, unless at least a majority of the taxpaying 
citizens sign the petition, and the applicant is shown to be a 
law-abiding citizen, and even then the court may withhold 
the license unless the petition is signed by at least two-thirds 
of the taxpaying citizens. 

367. Saloon Tax, How Used.—Two-thirds of the 
money derived from county saloon license taxes must be 
used in improving the public roads and bridges of the county, 
and the other third goes into the general revenue fund of the 
county, and may be used as other general revenue. The 
saloon license tax collected by the city may be used in paying 
any current expenses of the city, unless the city and the sur¬ 
rounding country not exceeding eight miles square have been 
organized into a special road district. In that case, one- 
fourth of the dramshop license tax collected by the city is 
used in improving the public roads lying outside the city 
limits, and is turned over to the road commissioners to be 
used in that way. 

368. Revoking License.—Thq license though once 
granted may be revoked for selling or giving away intoxi¬ 
cating liquors to an habitual drunkard, or for selling or giving 
them away on Sunday or on a general election day, or for 
keeping a disorderly house. And for selling or giving such 
liquors to minors without a written permission of the parent, 
the parent may recover $50 from the saloonkeeper or his 
bondsmen by suit, and in addition he may be fined as much 
as $200; and for selling or giving away on Sunday or a gen- 


308 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


eral election day he may be fined a like sum; and if he sells or 
gives intoxicating liquors to an habitual drunkard after 
having been notified in writing by the wife, mother, sister, 
brother or child not to do so, such wife or mother may re¬ 
cover not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars 
in a civil suit. And every county court is forbidden to issue 
a license to a saloonkeeper whose license has once been re¬ 
voked or who has been convicted of a crime. 

369. Excise Commissioner.—In the city of St. Louis 
there is an officer appointed by the Governor who is empow¬ 
ered to grant saloon licenses, just as county courts are in 
other counties, and for a license there a dramshop-keeper 
must pay both a city, county and state license tax just as 
dramshop-keepers in other counties and cities do. Such an 
officer is necessary there because there is no county court in 
St. Louis, and the law provides that he shall be appointed by 
the Governor, rather than elected by the people, in order, as 
far as possible, to relieve him from the political influence of 
the saloons. 

370. Poll Taxes.—A poll tax is a very old form of 
taxation, and one that all governments resort to at times in 
order to create or replenish a much-needed fund. It is a per 
capita tax; that is, a tax levied on each person on the poll or 
list of persons of a certain age. 

In this State a poll tax is a tax of from one to six dollars 
that may be levied on every able-bodied male citizen in the 
State between certain ages, usually between twenty-one and 
fifty years. In cities it goes into the city treasury, and is 
used in keeping the streets in repair. If the citizen does not 
live in a city, he is permitted to pay the tax either in money 
or by working on the roads. It cannot be collected for both 
county and city purposes; if the city is authorized to levy it, 
the county is not. The county court is required to levy it on 
all able-bodied male citizens of a specified age who reside out- 


TAXATION. 


309 


side certain cities, but on no other persons; and inside those 
cities the mayor and council may levy it, and in some cities, 
especially in those organized as special road districts, are re¬ 
quired to levy it. 


Questions on Chapter X. 

1. What is said of the subject of taxation? (351) 

2. What are taxes? (352) 

3. What are the people entitled to in return for taxes? (352) 

4. Read the whole of section 352. 

5. Why are taxes collected? (353) 

6. Does the government have any way to make money? (353) 

7. What property is exempt from direct taxes? (354) 

8. Does this exemption apply to benefit assessments? (354) 

9. Upon what does the amount of taxes one must pay depend? 

(355) 

10. What further is said about uniformity of taxation? (355) 

11. Must separate taxes be levied for separate subdivisions of gov¬ 

ernment? (356) 

12. Where is real estate taxable? (357) 

13. Where is personal property taxable? (357) 

14. As of what date are taxes assessable? (358) 

15. What is the rate now for state purposes? (359) 

16. What is the present state debt rate? (360) 

17. How else are the State’s revenues increased? (361) 

18. How else may the county increase its revenues? (363) 

19. How else may the city increase its revenues? (363) 

20. Can a school district levy a license tax? (363) 

21. What is said of occupation taxes? (364) 

22. Give some examples of an occupation tax. (364) 

23. When may such taxes be levied? (364) 

24. Can the people of a locality prohibit altogether the sale of in¬ 

toxicating liquors? How? (365) 

25. What saloon license taxes may the county court levy? (365) 

26. What saloon license tax may the city levy? (365) 

27. What is necessary to get a license in a town of 2,000 inhab¬ 

itants? (366) 

28. In a town of less than 2,000? (366) 

29. What do the words “taxpaying citizens” mean? (366) 

30. How often must the petition be renewed? (366) 


310 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


31. When must the court grant the license? (366) 

32. How is the saloon tax used? (367) 

33. When may the license be revoked? (368) 

34. What are the penalties for selling to minors? (368) 

35. For selling on Sunday? (368) 

36. For selling or giving to an habitual drunkard? (368) 

37. By whom are saloon licenses granted in St. Louis? (369) 

38. What are poll taxes? (370) 

39. For what are they used? (370) 


CHAPTER XI. 

LANDS AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS CONCERNING 
LANDS. 

371. Congressional Townships. —Congressional town¬ 
ships are to be distinguished from municipal townships. 
The municipal township is an irregular subdivision of a 
county made by the county court. A Congressional town¬ 
ship is a square body of land bounded by lines running east 
and west which are crossed by other lines running north and 
south in such manner that each side of the square is six miles 
long. It is a regular subdivision of nearly all of the lands of 
the county west of the Mississippi river, and in other parts 
of the United States, made by Government surveyors, for 
the ready conveyance of land to purchasers. Here these 
subdivisions were made about the time Missouri became a 
State, in accordance with an act of Congress, and hence their 
names. 

372. Necessity of Understanding Them. —We have 
all heard of sections, townships and ranges in describing land 
transfers. These terms are used in finding or “locating” 
every farm in almost every county, and in laying out every 
town and city in the State, and in levying taxes. 

373. How Made. —The Government surveyors first 
agreed upon “base lines” and “principal meridians.” There 



LANDS AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 


311 


are many of these in the United States, but the base line from 
which Missouri lands were surveyed runs east and west 
through Arkansas, near the center of that State, and within 
a few miles of Little Rock, and the principal meridian from 
which these surveys were made is the Fifth Principal Me¬ 
ridian, which runs north and south through the eastern part 
of the State, about thirty-six miles west of St. Louis. It is 
fourteen degrees of longitude west from Washington. 

374. Ranges.—Other lines parallel with the Fifth 
Principal Meridian, and just six miles apart, were run by the 
surveyors, and all the territory between any two of these 
lines is called a range. All the land within six miles of the 
Fifth Principal Meridian is in Range 1, and that between the 
next two range lines is in Range 2, and so on westward to the 
western border of the State, and eastward to the Mississippi 
river. A range then is six miles wide. If your range is 21 
west, that indicates that there are twenty ranges between 
yours and the Fifth Principal Meridian, and that you live 
west of that meridian. 

375. Townships.—Other lines, six miles apart and 
parallel with the base line, are run east and west through the 
State, so that the whole State is divided into a kind of checker 
board, or squares of six miles. Each of these squares is a 
Congressional township. These townships are numbered 
consecutively north from the base line. If you live in town¬ 
ship. 49, that indicates that there are forty-eight townships 
south of yours between you and the base line, and it also 
indicates that every township due west or due east of yours, 
entirely through the State, is also numbered 49. 

376. Sections.—Each Congressional township is di¬ 
vided into sections. A section is a piece of land one mile 
square. So each township contains thirty-six sections. 
These are also numbered. The first section in the northeast 
corner of the township is section L The one just west of it 


312 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


is section 2, and so on to the last section in the northwest 
corner of the township, which is section 6. The one just 
south of section 6 is section 7, and the one just east of that 
is section 8, and so on to the last section at the east side of 
the township, which is section 12. Right south of section 12 
is section 13, and then the count is back to the west again, 
and then back to the east, and so on in this looping order 
until section 36 is found in the southeast corner of the town¬ 
ship. The corner of each section was originally marked by a 
long stone set into the ground, and township corners by yet 
larger stones. 

I 

377. Subdivisions of Sections.—Each section is di¬ 
vided into four parts, called “quarter sections.” They are 
the northeast quarter, the northwest quarter, the southeast 
quarter and the southwest quarter. Each contains one hun¬ 
dred and sixty acres. And each quarter section is again 
divided into four equal squares, so that forty acres in the 
southeast corner of the section is described as the southeast 
quarter of the southeast quarter. 

378. How Used.—This system of describing land is 
used in conveyancing, or in making deeds, and in levying 
taxes. In a deed to a farm the land is rarely described in 
any other way, but the building or lot in a town or city is 
described in deeds by the number of the lot, the number of 
the block, and the name of the addition wherein it is located. 
But these numbers have been made to conform to a plat of 
the town or city, recorded with the recorder of deeds, which 
plat was arranged from the numbers of the section, township 
and range. So that this United States Surveyor’s system is 
the basis for describing real estate in all deeds and in levying 
taxes. 

For a better understanding of ranges, townships and 
sections this diagram is subjoined, showing certain lands in 
Saline county: 



LANDS AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 313 

__N_ 


TOWNSHIP 

51. 

Range 21. 

TOWNSHIP 

51. 

Range 20. 

TOWNSHIP 

50. 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

18 

17 

16 

15 

14 

13 

19 

20 

5 

21 

0 

22 

23 

24 

30 

29 

28 

27 

26 

25 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 


S 


379. Deeds.—A deed is a written contract by which 
land is conveyed from one person to another within the life¬ 
time of both. The person who makes the deed is called the 
grantor, and the person to whom the land is conveyed, the 
grantee. If the grantor covenants that the grantee is to 
have a perfect title, the deed is a warranty deed; if he simply 
conveys all the title he owns it is a quit-claim. Deeds are the 
instruments by which people convey land while they are liv¬ 
ing. But in order to convey the land the deed must be de¬ 
livered, but when signed and delivered it conveys the title it 
purports to convey at once. 

380. Acknowledgment and Record.—A deed signed 
by the owner of land and delivered conveys to the grantee all 
his interest in the land; but in order to be recorded it must be 
















314 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


acknowledged. That means that the grantor goes before a 
notary public or a justice of the peace or some other public 
officer and acknowledges that his signature to the deed was 
his “free act and deed,” and then that officer attaches his cer¬ 
tificate to the deed, showing that it has been so acknowledged. 
Then the deed can be recorded by the county recorder, and 
from that time on the record is notice to all the world that 
the land has been conveyed to the person named as grantee. 

But suppose the grantee does not have his deed recorded, 
and the grantor after he has made him a deed makes one to 
another person and that person without any knowledge of 
the prior deed puts his deed of record; that other person then 
has a prior right to the land. So, the necessity of recording 
a deed as soon as it is made. The purpose of recording a deed 
is to give other persons notice that you are the owner. After 
the deed is recorded, if any person buys the land from the 
same grantor he is chargeable with notice that it had been 
previously conveyed to you. 

But a deed cannot be recorded unless it is first acknowl¬ 
edged; so, the necessity of a good acknowledgment. 

381. Transfer by Will .—Lands can also be devised by 
wills. The owner may make a will, and retain the land dur¬ 
ing his life, and after his death his will goes into effect, and 
the person to whom he has given the land becomes the owner. 
This is a marked distinction between deeds and wills; a deed 
must take effect within the life of the grantor, if at all, and 
can take effect only on delivery to the grantee or to some 
person for him, but when delivered it becomes a complete 
contract, and cannot be revoked by the maker; a will never 
takes effect until the death of the maker, and does not have 
to be delivered to the devisee during the life of the maker, 
and can be revoked by him at any time during his life. 

382. Partition of Lands.—If the owner of land dies 
without a will, the land (if he has no debts) goes to his heirs, 


LANDS AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 


315 


and the law declares who are the heirs and just what portion 
each is to have. They can agree upon a division among 
themselves, and make deeds to each other. But if they can¬ 
not agree, any heir can go into court, and ask the court to 
make the division for them. The court will appoint com¬ 
missioners to divide or partition the land among them, ac¬ 
cording to their legal rights, if that can be done, but if that 
cannot be done, the court will order the land to be sold, and 
then will divide the money among the heirs. That is called 
a partition suit or a proceeding in partition. 

Usually the maker of a will divides up his land among 
his devisees by the will itself by giving to each a certain tract 
or a certain lot. But if he does not do that, but gives his 
lands to two or more devisees, without mentioning which 
portion each is to take, they can divide them among them¬ 
selves, or resort to a partition suit for the purpose. 

383. Title. —Title is the foundation of one’s ownership 
of real estate; it is the written instruments whereby his right 
to the land is established. It consists of a patent from the 
United States, and all deeds and wills concerning the land 
from the date the patent was issued up to the present time. 
To be a perfect title each deed in the series must be a perfect 
instrument and the maker thereof must have been the actual 
owner. Such a chain of title of perfect deeds is rare. But 
the Legislature has provided against any injury that might 
result to the actual owner because of these imperfections, in 
the Statute of Limitations. By that statute any person 
who has been in actual, adverse and exclusive possession of 
property for ten years, claiming to be the owner, is the owner, 
and cannot be dispossessed unless the person out of posses¬ 
sion and claiming to be the owner and to have a title is a 
minor or a married woman or a remainderman, in which case 
the possession of the actual occupant must be for a longer 
term of years. This is one of the most beneficent statutes 
ever written. If it were repealed the greatest confusion 


316 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


would result, and no householder would be secure in his 
home. 

384. Remainders.—Both by deed and by will all the 
owner’s right and title to land may be conveyed to one per¬ 
son, or it may be conveyed to one for life and to another 
thereafter. The person who takes the estate for his life is 
called the life tenant, and the person who next takes is called 
the remainderman and the estate he takes is called the re¬ 
mainder. The life tenant does not take the title; he only 
takes a lifetime use. The remainderman takes the title, but 
his right to the use and possession is postponed until the death 
of the life tenant. In this way the owner of land may keep 
it in his family for many years after his death. Thus, if 
he gave to his daughter a certain house and lot to be held 
and enjoyed by her during her natural life and after her 
death by the heirs of her body then living, she could hold 
and use it so long as she lived, or she could sell her right to 
its use during her life, but she could sell no more, and at her 
death her descendants then living would at once become the 
owners and entitled to the possession, but they would at no 
time while she lived be entitled to the possession, nor would 
they be barred from asserting their right to possession on 
her death by the statute of limitations, although she may 
have been in possession for thirty or forty years, for until her 
death the possession of no one can be adverse to them. In 
this way the owner of land may keep it in his family at least 
during the life of his own children. 

385. Homestead.—The law believes society is strong¬ 
er if every family has a home. In this State the residence of 
the head of a family cannot be taken for his debts, and his 
widow and minor children are entitled to live in the residence 
owned by him at his death—the widow during her life or 
widowhood, and the children while they are minors. But 
there can be no homestead as against the debts made prior 


LANDS AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 


317 


to the time the husband acquired and occupied his residence, 
nor can the homestead in the country exceed one hundred 
and sixty acres of land nor $1,500 in value, but so much of 
the one hundred and sixty acres can be retained by the hus¬ 
band during his life, and by the widow and children after his 
death, as is worth no more than $1,500. In cities and towns 
the maximum value and size of the homestead depend on 
their population. In towns having less than 10,000 inhab¬ 
itants the maximum value is $1,500, and the maximum size 
not more than five acres. In larger cities this value is larger 
and the amount of ground less. 

386. Dower.—In addition to her homestead in her 
husband’s residence, the widow is entitled to a dower of one- 
third of all the other land he owned at any time during their 
marriage, not by her deeded away while he lived, and she is 
entitled to a child’s share in his personal estate. If he made 
a deed to a piece of property in which she did not join, her 
dower remains and may be recovered by her after his death. 
But a dower only lasts for life. It is extinguished by her 
death. But instead of this lifetime interest of one-third of 
her husband’s real estate the widow may take, if she desires, 
a child’s share. If there is only one child, her share then will 
be one-half of the husband’s real estate after his debts are 
paid. If he dies without children or other descendants, her 
dower is one-half of all the property he owned after the debts 
are paid, not for life only, but absolutely. 

387. Curtesy.—The husband’s curtesy is something 
like the widow’s dower. It is a lifetime use of the lands 
owned by the wife at her death. But in order that he may 
have this interest he must have had the possession and use 
of the property during the marriage, and a child must have 
been born alive of the marriage. If the child survives her he 
has only a lifetime use of the wife’s lands. But if she die 
leaving no children or other descendants, he is entitled to one- 


318 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


half of all her property absolutely, and, if a child was born of 
the marriage, to the use of the remaining half of her real 
estate of which he had the possession during the marriage. 

388. Wills and Heirs.—Every person may make a 
will for the disposal of his property after his death, and he 
may give his property to whom he pleases, except that the 
husband cannot deprive the wife of her dower or homestead 
interest, nor can the wife deprive her husband of his curtesy. 
But a father by will may disinherit one or all of his children, 
and so may the mother. 

But if the father die leaving no will his property goes as 
the law directs; that is, after the payment of his debts, his 
wife gets her share (dower and homestead and one year’s 
provision for the support of the family, the family furniture 
and about $400 worth of other things and a child’s share in 
the rest of the personalty), and the balance goes to his chil¬ 
dren in equal shares, and if a child has died leaving children 
they get a child’s share. 

If a husband die leaving no will, and no children or other 
descendants surviving him, his wife gets one-half his prop¬ 
erty, and the balance goes to his next of kin, that is, to his 
father and mother, brothers and sisters, or their descendants, 
in equal proportions; but if he have no such kindred, then 
all his property goes to his wife. 

If the wife die leaving no will her property goes to her 
husband and children or other near relatives in almost the 
same way as does the husband’s property in case of his death; 
that is, after the payment of her debts, the husband gets his 
curtesy, and the balance goes to her children in equal pro¬ 
portions. If she leave no children or other descendants, her 
surviving husband gets one-half of all her property absolute¬ 
ly, and if a child had been born of the marriage and died, a 
lifetime use of the other half of her real estate, but the other 
half of her personal property and the title to the other half 
of the real estate and its use after his death, go in equal pro- 


LANDS AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 


319 


portions to her father, mother, brothers and sisters, or their 
descendants, if any there be, but if there are none, then all 
her property goes to her surviving husband. 

If the nearest relative the husband has is a first cousin, 
and he leaves no will, the wife gets all his property. Like¬ 
wise, if the nearest relative surviving the wife is a first cousin, 
and she leaves no will, the husband takes her entire estate. 

Questions on Chapter XI. 

1. What is a municipal township? (371) 

2. A Congressional township? (371) 

3. What terms are used in locating land? (372) 

4. From what two lines were lands in Missouri surveyed? (373) 

5. How were the ranges made? (374) 

6. What is the first six-miles strip? The next? (374) 

7. What other lines were run? (375) 

8. What is each square? (375) 

9. How are they numbered? (375) 

10. How is each township divided? (376) 

11. How are they numbered? (376) 

12. How is each section divided? (377) 

13. How is this system of describing land used? (378) 

14. How is a building in town described? (378) 

15. What is a deed? (379) 

16. What are the parties to the deed called? (379) 

17. When is the deed a warranty? (379) 

18. When a quit-claim? (379) 

19. What is necessary in order for the deed to convey land? (379) 

20. What must be done before the deed can be recorded? (380) 

21. What does that mean? (380) 

22. What does the record become? (380) 

23. What is the purpose of recording a deed? (380) 

24. How else may land be conveyed? (381) 

25. When does a deed take effect and when a will? (381) 

26. How are lands divided upon the death of the owner? (382) 

27. What is title? (383) Of what does it consist? (383) 

28. Are there many perfect chains of title? (383) 

29. How has the Legislature provided against injury because of im¬ 

perfections in the title? (383) 

30. How does that statute do that? (383) 


320 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


31. How may lands be conveyed? (384) 

32. Who is the life tenant and who the remainderman? (384) 

33. What does the life tenant take? (384) 

34. What does the remainderman take? (384) 

35. What advantage does this give the owner of land? (384) 

36. What is said of homestead? (385) 

37. What is the size*of the homestead? (385) 

38. What is dower? (386) 

39. What may she have in lieu of the lifetime interest? (386) 

40. What is her dower if he had no children? (386) 

41. What is the husband’s curtesy? (387) 

42. What is necessary for him to have curtesy? (387) 

43. What may the owner of property do by will? (388) 

44. If the father dies without will, how does his property go? (388) 

45. Where does the husband’s property go if he die without will or 
descendants? (388) 


CHAPTER Xn. 

CORPORATIONS. 

389. Formation and Explanations. —Any man or 

woman over twenty-one years of age, whether married or un¬ 
married, can make contracts, own property and engage in 
any kind of lawful business. That is business by a natural 
person. 

Two or more of such persons may associate themselves, 
into a partnership, and in the name of that partnership 
transact a certain kind of business or many kinds. Each of 
the partners puts in a certain amount of the capital which is 
used for the partnership business, and each is entitled to his 
proportionate share of the profits, but each is responsible 
for all its debts, whether they were made by him or by some 
other partner who had authority to make them, but before 
he can be held individually responsible all the partnership 
funds must be exhausted to pay the partnership debts. 

In order to lessen their individual liability men often 



CORPORATIONS. 


321 


form a corporation, the members of which are never liable 
for anything more than the face value of their stock, except 
in cases of national banks, the stockholders of which are 
liable for twice the face value of their stock. Besides, there 
are some businesses too large and extensive to be carried on 
successfully by individuals or partnerships. To transact the 
larger kinds or an unusual kind of business the law permits 
corporations to be formed. 

A corporation is always a company. But corporations 
are not the only kind of companies. A partnership some¬ 
times takes the name of a company, although it is usually 
properly spoken of as a firm; and an individual can do busi¬ 
ness in any name he may choose to adopt. Thus, the New 
York Clothing Company may be owned by one man, named, 
for instance, John Smith. But that is not a company at all, 
but simply a name in which John Smith wishes to do business 
as a clothing merchant. He cannot lessen his liabilities by 
doing business in that name, for he is liable for all the debts 
that the New York Clothing Company may make. He may 
wish to keep his clothing business separate from some other 
business he wishes to carry on, and may think he can do a 
better clothing business by assuming that high-sounding 
name, and the law permits him to do that. So also may the 
New York Clothing Company be owned by a partnership 
composed of Smith, Jones and Brown, with a capital stock of 
$100,000 or any other sum. In that case each of those three 
would have an interest in the concern, and each would be re¬ 
sponsible for all its debts. And the partnership could en¬ 
gage not only in the clothing business, but in almost every 
other kind of business the partners might wish to undertake 
in its name. It could own lands, deal in cement or railroad 
ties, or engage in manufacturing. 

Now, if those three men wanted to incorporate the New 
York Clothing Company, either by themselves or together 


21 


322 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


with any number of other persons, they would apply to the 
Secretary of State for a charter,,stating the kind of business 
they wished to engage in, and the amount of capital the com¬ 
pany had and how much of it was paid up, and how much 
was paid by each one of them. If there was no other com¬ 
pany already incorporated by that name, the Secretary of 
State would issue a charter defining the kind of business it 
could engage in, and thereafter it could engage in no other 
business, nor could it do business in any other name. The 
company would then issue certificates of stock to each person 
named in the charter for the amount of capital he had paid 
in, and the holders of that stock would be the stockholders 
of the company. The stockholders would elect certain of 
their number to be directors, who are charged with the man¬ 
agement of the company’s business. The directors would 
elect one of their number president, another secretary, and 
another treasurer, and they would fix the salaries of those 
officers, and at the end of each year or oftener they would 
determine what rate of dividend should be paid to the stock¬ 
holders. 

390. Stockholders and Directors.—Every corpora¬ 
tion must have at least three directors, and may have as 
many stockholders as there are shares of stock. The inter¬ 
est of each stockholder depends on the number of shares of 
stock he owns, and when directors are elected he has as many 
votes as he has shares multiplied by the number of directors 
to be elected, and he can cast all his votes for one man or 
scatter them. Thus, suppose he has five shares of stock and 
there are five directors to be elected; he can cast five votes 
for each of five stockholders he wishes to have elected direct¬ 
ors, or he can cast twenty-five votes for one and none for the 
others. A stockholder can draw nothing out of the com¬ 
pany’s treasury except dividends, which mean the net earn¬ 
ings of the business. He is not liable for the company’s 
debts, and if it fails he will lose only what he paid for his 


CORPORATIONS. 


323 


stock, unless the charter falsely stated at the time the com¬ 
pany was incorporated that a greater per cent of the stock 
has been paid up than was actually paid up, in which case the 
stockholders would be liable to the creditors of the company 
for what the charter stated had been paid up when the com¬ 
pany was incorporated, less the amount actually paid. He 
can sell his stock, and the purchaser will have the same rights 
as a stockholder that he had. He may die, but the company 
would go on. His stock might be sold for his debts, and that 
being simply a piece of paper (or certificate reciting the num¬ 
ber of shares he owns) is easily transferred, and hence the 
company’s existence would not be affected by his death, 
whereas if it was a partnership its affairs would have to be 
wound up, its debts paid, and his share in what was left 
turned over to his administrators. 

391. Definition and Powers.—A corporation, then, is 
defined as an artificial person. It is a company which the 
law permits to be created for the transaction of a certain 
kind of business. It derives all its powers from the State, 
and can engage in no business except that mentioned in its 
charter or the laws, and its name must indicate the kind of 
business it wishes to carry on. It must have at least three 
directors and may have thirteen, and three of them must be 
residents of this State. 

392. Duration.—If the corporation is a railroad com¬ 
pany it may exist until its stockholders wish to surrender 
their charter, but nearly all other business corporations are 
given the right to exist for twenty or fifty years, but at the 
end of that time their charters may be renewed for another 
like period, and so on indefinitely, unless the law has in the 
meantime been changed. 

393. Ownership of Real Estate.—A corporation can 
own such real estate as is necessary for the carrying on of 
the particular business in which it is engaged, such as its 


324 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


store or banking house, but it can own no other real estate 
except such as it takes in payment of debts due it, and even 
that it can not retain longer than six years. 

These are the general rules governing business corpora¬ 
tions. 

394. Foreign Corporations.—Nearly every corpora¬ 
tion is organized under the laws of some State, and those 
chartered by some other State or by some foreign country 
are called foreign corporations. They have no right to do 
business within this State except upon such terms as the 
State may prescribe. Those terms are usually the same pre¬ 
scribed for home corporations. If they wish to come to this 
State to do extensive business they must secure a license 
from this State, and have an office or place of business here, 
and pay the same fees for that license as a home company 
with a like capital. If they simply buy or sell goods or other 
commodities in their own State from or to citizens of this 
State, they are not required to have a license from this State, 
but under what is called “comity between States” are pro¬ 
tected in the legal transaction of their business. 

395. Educational and Religious Corporations.— 

But there are other corporations, such as colleges or univer¬ 
sities, which have charters just as do business corporations, 
and their affairs are managed by a board of directors, called 
curators or trustees. They have no capital stock, and con¬ 
sequently no stockholders, but their directors are elected by 
a synod or conference or an association, or by the remaining 
trustees when a vacancy occurs. They are perpetual cor¬ 
porations, and often own considerable property, which has 
been given them, and which can be used in any way that will 
promote the best interests of the institutions. 

396. Public Service Corporations.—Railroads and 
street railways are public service corporations. They have 
been organized for the accommodation of the general public 


CORPORATIONS. 


325 


—for transporting freight from one place to another and 
carrying persons from place to place. They are called com¬ 
mon carriers, and for the service they render they are permit¬ 
ted to charge reasonable fares, but they have no authority 
which they are not specifically given by law, and being created 
for the public good the State has the right to regulate their 
freight and passenger rates and to fix them within reasonable 
bounds. It also has the power to require them to exercise 
the strictest care and diligence to prevent accidents to pas¬ 
sengers and loss of freight, and to avoid injury to persons on 
the track. 

There are other public service corporations, such as tele¬ 
graph and telephone companies, electric light and gas light 
companies and water companies. All of these companies can 
exercise no power except such as is given them by law, and 
the State or the city may prescribe rules by which they may 
do business, and fix the charges for the services rendered. 

397. Municipal Corporations are cities, towns or 
school districts or other like subdivisions of the government. 
They have officers, who act for them just as do those of pri¬ 
vate corporations. To illustrate, a city instead of a presi¬ 
dent will have a mayor, instead of a board of directors it will 
have a board of aldermen or a municipal assembly, instead 
of stockholders it will have voters and taxpayers, and it will 
have such other officers as may be necessary for the transac¬ 
tion of its business, and like other corporations it can exer¬ 
cise no authority except such as is given it by the General 
Assembly. 

398. Condemnation and Eminent Domain.—Rail¬ 
roads and all municipal corporations are given power to take 
land for their own use. A railroad may take a private house 
in town or a farm in the country for its tracks, a city can take 
private property for a street or a hospital or a city hall, and 
a school district can take a lot for a school house site. But 
none of them can take any land except for a public use, and 


326 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


they are not permitted to say what is a public use, nor is the 
Legislature, but whether or not the purpose for which it is 
proposed to take the land is a public use, is to be determined 
by the circuit court or some higher court. Nor can any of 
them take any land for a use admitted to be public without 
first paying its just value. They cannot take it with a prom¬ 
ise to pay for it afterwards, but before they can touch it or in 
anywise disturb the owner in the peaceable enjoyment of it, 
they must pay for it. Nor are they permitted to decide what 
is its just value, but a set of disinterested commissioners first 
fix its value, and then if either side is dissatisfied he can have 
a jury in the circuit court to determine its value. But if the 
court decides that the use to which the property is to be put 
is a public use, and the railroad or city pays to the owner or 
into court for him its value as fixed by the jury, he must 
surrender it, although it be his cherished home. 

This is called the law of eminent domain, and the suit by 
which the owner’s land is taken from him is called a con¬ 
demnation proceeding. The law of eminent domain is a part 
of the, law of the land; it means that the owner of real estate 
owns it subject to the right of the public to take it for a public 
use by paying for it its just value. 

No property can be taken for a private use with or with¬ 
out just compensation except with the owner’s consent, ex¬ 
cept for a necessary private way to a house or farm, or a nec¬ 
essary drain or ditch for sanitary purposes; but for a public 
use it can be taken without his consent upon the payment 
of a just compensation. 

Other public service corporations, such as water and 
light companies, have been given power to take land for a 
public use in a limited way, but no city or railroad or school 
district or other public service corporation can take any prop¬ 
erty for any use unless the General Assembly gives it that 
power, and even after that power has been given the courts 
will, in every case in which their aid is asked, determine 


CORPORATIONS. 


327 


whether the particular use to which the corporation proposes 
to put the property is a public use. 

The law of eminent domain rarely works a hardship on 
the owner of land. The public corporation has the right to 
agree with the owner as to the value of the land it wishes to 
take for the public use, and to buy it at a price that is usually 
satisfactory. And so a railroad often buys its right of way, 
and the owner of land in a city when he plats it and divides 
it into blocks and lots usually donates the streets to public 
use. But if they cannot agree and a condemnation proceed¬ 
ing is resorted to, the commissioners or jury usually fix the 
value of the land taken at all it is worth. 

399. Necessity for Corporations.—Public service cor¬ 
porations and many business corporations are a necessity of 
modern commercial life. Few men would now be willing to 
live fifty or a hundred miles from a railroad. Yet a railroad 
costs so much money that few men alone are able to build 
one. They require the combined capital of a great many 
men, and for a proper handling of that combined capital a 
corporation seems to be the best plan. If only individuals 
were given the right to build them, there would not be so 
many miles of railroad in this State, nor would they be any¬ 
thing like so well equipped as now. 

Banks are necessary for the easy and ready transaction 
of business, but there would be few banks if there were no 
corporations to own them. Individuals die, but corpora¬ 
tions need never die. If only individuals could own banks, 
the business men of the town or city would be very slow to 
deposit their money in banks, for the owner might suddenly 
die, and then the bank’s business might cease, and perhaps 
the depositors would not be able to get their money until 
the banker’s administrator had wound up his estate in the 
probate court; and, besides, the banker would be slow to 
loan out his deposits, knowing that if he should suddenly 
die his depositors might want their money, and if it were 


328 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


loaned out they could not get it. But where the bank is an 
incorporated one, the president or cashier or any other of 
its officers may die or become insolvent, his place is filled by 
the directors, and the bank’s business goes on with little or 
no interruption. Business men understand this fact, and 
hence they deposit their money in the bank and it loans it 
out to borrowers, who use it in various kinds of business, and 
more business means more employment for laborers. In this 
way banks do a great deal to put money to work, and to keep 
it at work, but their power to do that would be vastly less 
if they were not incorporated. 

Corporations for the transaction of many other kinds of 
business seem to be a necessity of a great people devoted to 
industry and to the development of the resources of health¬ 
ful commerce. 

400. Trusts and Combinations.—But private and 
public service corporations have no natural right to exist; 
they exist because the lawmakers, and the people who elect 
lawmakers, seem to think them necessary. They derive 
their right to exist from government; they have no power ex¬ 
cept what the government permits them to exercise. The 
government can, therefore, restrain them from using their 
powers in a way to injure the general public, or to be unjust 
to their employees. It can prohibit them from making com¬ 
binations or agreements in restraint of trade. Where cor¬ 
porations combine to unjustly and unreasonably raise the 
prices of the things they sell or to lower the prices of things 
they buy, the combination is called a trust. Sometimes the 
agreement is to lessen the amount of the things they produce 
and thereby to increase their price to the consumer, and some¬ 
times it is for a number of corporations engaged in the same 
kind of business to consolidate into one company and thus 
destroy competition between themselves. The State has 
enacted laws that make illegal all combinations of this kind 
which result in injury to the general public, and whenever 


CORPORATIONS. 


329 


the combination can be shown in court to be an unjust or un¬ 
reasonable restraint of trade the court will put a stop to it, 
and if necessary to do that it will even forfeit the charters of 
the corporations in the combination and not let them longer 
do business in the State. 

401. Guiding Principles In Controlling Corpora¬ 
tions.—The proper control of corporations, and the prevent¬ 
ing of trusts, is one of the most serious questions in our pres¬ 
ent-day politics. It is at the same time one of the hardest 
and most difficult. It is a question that the people are slow 
to comprehend. In dealing with it the people should always 
have before their minds this question. What is best for the 
general public? And to answer that question they must have 
an intelligent understanding of the effects of large combina¬ 
tions of capital. Government must always see to it that all 
energetic men have the very best possible chance to make an 
honest living, and whatever combinations lessen that chance 
or weaken their powers of individual manhood must be de¬ 
stroyed. On the other hand, it will not do to assume that 
all corporations, or even all combinations of companies, are 
hurtful. If properly hedged about, they may furnish em¬ 
ployment to industrious persons, who might otherwise be 
idle, and they often result in selling to the people things for 
their comfort at lower prices than would prevail without them. 
But our Constitution says that "all men have a natural right 
to the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry.” Then 
all combinations that interfere with that right are wrong, and 
the people, through the various departments of their govern¬ 
ment should prevent them. Justice to all men should be the 
controlling principle in dealing with trusts, as in determining 
every other duty of man to man. 

Questions on Chapter XII. 

1. Who may make contracts? (389) 

2. What is said of partnerships and- liability of partners? (389) 

3. Why do men form corporations? (389) 




330 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


4. For what other reasons? (389) 

5. Are all companies corporations? (389) 

6. How is a partnership properly spoken of? (389) 

7. In what name may an individual do business? (389) 

8. Give an illustration. (389) 

9. Could that same company be owned by a partnership? (389) 

10. What would each partner be liable for? (389) 

11. In what business could it engage? (389) 

12. Illustrate how a corporation may be formed? (389) 

13. Having been chartered, what would it do? (389) 

14. Who would be the owners of the company? (389) 

15. Who would elect the directors and who the officers? (389) 

16. Who declare the dividends? (389) 

17. How many directors and stockholders? (390) 

18. Upon what does the stockholder’s interest depend? (390) 

19. How many votes for directors has he? (390) 

20. What may he draw out of the company? (390) 

21. What is the extent of his liability? (390) 

22. How may he withdraw from the company? (390) 

23. Suppose he dies, must the company die too? (390) 

24. But suppose the company were a partnership what would be 

the effect of his death? (390) 

25. How, then, is a corporation defined? (391) 

26. Whence come its powers? (391) 

27. What must its name indicate? (391) 

28. The number and residence of directors and stockholders? (391) 

29. How long may a corporation exist? (392) 

30. What real estate may it own? (393) 

31. What are foreign corporations? (394) 

32. Upon what terms may they do business here? (394) 

33. What is said of educational corporations? (395) 

34. What is said of railroad and street railway companies? (396) 

35. What other public service corporations are mentioned? (396) 

36. What power may a public service corporation exercise? (396) 

37. What are municipal corporations? (397) 

38. What similarity between them and private corporations? (397) 

39. What right have railroads or municipal corporations towards 

private lands? (398) 

40. What must the use be? (398) 

41. Who has the right to say when the use is public? (398) 

42. When may they take land for a public use? (398) 

43. Who decides what is its just value? (398) 


CORPORATIONS. 


331 


44. What is the law by which private property is taken for a public 

use called? (398) 

45. And what is the suit by which that is done called? (398) 

46. Can private property be taken for a private use? (398) 

47. When may a city or railroad, etc., take private property for any 

use? (398) 

48. Does this law often work a hardship? Why? (398) 

49. What is said about the necessity for corporations? (399) 

50. Do corporations have a natural right to exist? (400) 

51. Where do they get that right? (400) 

52. What power have they? (400) 

53. How may the government restrain them? (400) 

54. Give some illustrations. (400) 

55. What laws restraining them has the State enacted? (400) 

56. What is said of the difficulty of controlling corporations? (401) 

57. What must government always see to? (401) 

58. What does our Constitution say? (401) 

59. What should be the controlling principle in all public matters? 

(401) 


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APPENDIX 

• (TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT.) 


THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

PREAMBLE. 

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more per¬ 
fect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this 
Constitution for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 

Section I. Congress in General. ‘ 

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress 
of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Rep¬ 
resentatives. 

Section II. House of Representatives. 

1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members 
chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the 
electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors 
of the most numerous branch of the State legislature. 

2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained 
the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State 
in which he shall be chosen. 

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several States which may be included within this Union, according 
to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a 
term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other 
persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years 
after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within 
every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law 

(333) 




334 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every 
thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; 
and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire 
shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five. New York six. New Jersey 
four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten. 
North Carolina five. South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, 
the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies. 

5. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and 
other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Section III. Senate. 

1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Sen¬ 
ators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; 
and each Senator shall have one vote. 

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of 
the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at 
the expiration of the second year; of the second class, at the expiration 
of the fourth year, and of the third class, at the expiration of the sixth 
year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies 
happen by resignation or otherwise during the recess of the legislature of 
any State, the executive thereof may make temporary appointment 
until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such va¬ 
cancies. 

3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, 
and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which 
he shall be chosen. 

4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of 
the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a Pres¬ 
ident pro tempore in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall 
exercise the office of President of the United States. 

6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. 
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall 
preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of 
two-thirds of the members present. 

7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further 


APPENDIX. 


335 


than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any 
office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party 
convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, 
judgment, and punishment, according to law. 

Section IV. Both Houses. 

1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators 
and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature 
thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such 
regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators. 

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and 
such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
by law appoint a different day. 

Section V. The Houses Separately. 

1. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and 
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute 
a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to 
day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent mem-, 
bers, in such manner, and under such penalties, as each house may pro¬ 
vide. 

2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish 
its members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two- 
thirds, expel a member. 

3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judg¬ 
ment require secrecy, and the yeas and nays of the members of either 
house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, 
be entered on the journal. 

4. Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without 
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. 

Section VI. Privileges and Disabilities of Members. 

1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation 
for their services, to be ascertained by law and paid out of the Treasury 
of the United States. They shall, in all cases except treason, felony, 
and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend¬ 
ance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and return¬ 
ing from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house they 
shall not be questioned in any other place. 


336 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which 
he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of 
the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments 
whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person hold¬ 
ing any office under the United States shall be a member of either house 
during his continuance in office. 

Section VII. Mode of Passing Laws. 

1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments 
as on other bills. 

2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representa¬ 
tives and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the 
President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not 
he shall return it, with his objections, to the house in which it shall have 
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal and 
proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of 
that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the 
objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered 
and if approved by two-thirds of that house it shall become a law. But 
in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas 
and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill 
shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill 
shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays ex¬ 
cepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a 
law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their 
adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 

3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the 
United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved 
by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and 
limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Section VIII. Powers Granted to Congress. 

The Congress shall have power: 

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay 
the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of 
the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform 
throughout the United States; 


APPENDIX. 


337 


2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States; 

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the 
several States, and with the Indian tribes; 

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws 
on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, 
and fix the standard of weights and measures; 

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities 
and current coin of the United States; 

7. To establish post-offices and post-roads; 

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing 
for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their 
respective writings and discoveries; 

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; 

10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the 
high seas and offenses against the law of nations; 

11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water; 

12. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money 
to that use shall be for a longer term than two years; 

13. To provide and maintain a navy; 

14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land 
and naval forces; 

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of 
the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions; 

16. To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia 
and for governing such parts of them as may be employed in the service 
of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appoint¬ 
ment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according 
to the discipline prescribed by Congress; 

17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over 
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of par¬ 
ticular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the 
Government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all 
places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which 
the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock¬ 
yards, and other needful buildings; and 

18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry¬ 
ing into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by 
this Constitution In the Government of the United States, or in any 
department or officer thereof. 

22 


338 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


Section IX. Powers Denied to the United States. 

1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the 
States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited 
by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, 
but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding 
ten dollars for each person. 

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may re¬ 
quire it. 

3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in pro¬ 
portion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 

6. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce 
or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall ves¬ 
sels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties 
in another. 

7. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence 
of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of 
the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published 
from time to time. 

8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and 
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without 
the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office 
or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State. 

Section X. Powers Denied to the States. 

1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; 
grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; 
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; 
pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obliga¬ 
tion of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any im¬ 
posts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net proceeds of all 
duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for 
the use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be 
subject to the revision and control of the Congress. 

3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty 
of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 


APPENDIX. 


339 


agreement or compact with another State or with a foreign power, or 
engage in war, unless actually invaded or in such imminent danger as 
will not admit of delay. . 

ARTICLE II. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

Section I. President and Vice-President. 

1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United 
States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, 
and together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elect¬ 
ed as follows: 

2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature 
thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of 
Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the 
Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office 
of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

*3. The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by 
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant 
of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all 
the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list 
they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government 
of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The Pres¬ 
ident of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be 
counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the 
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors 
appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and 
have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall 
immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person 
have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said house 
shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President 
the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State 
having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States 
shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the 
President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors 
shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more 
who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the 
Vice-President. 

*Note —This clause has been superseded by the twelfth amendment, 
page xvi. 



340 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors 
and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the 
same throughout the United States. 

5. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the 
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be 
eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to 
that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, 
and been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 

6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his 
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the 
said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Con¬ 
gress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or 
inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what of¬ 
ficer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly 
until the disability be removed or a President shall be elected. 

7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a 
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the 
period for which he may have been elected, and he shall not receive within 
that period any other emolument from the United States or any of them. 

8. Before he enter on the execution of his office he shall take the 
following oath or affirmation: 

‘T do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the 
office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability 
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” 

Section II. Powers of the President. 

1. The President shall be Commander-in-chief of the Army and 
Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when 
called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the 
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive de¬ 
partments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective 
offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for of¬ 
fenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present 
concur; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and 
consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United 
States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and 
which shall be established by law; but the Congress may by law vest the 
appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the Pres¬ 
ident alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 


APPENDIX. 


341 


3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Section III. Duties of the President. 

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the 
state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures 
as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary 
occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagree¬ 
ment between them with respect to the time of adjournment, he may 
adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive am¬ 
bassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws 
be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United 
States. 

Section IV. Impeachment. 

The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United 
States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction 
of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

Section I. United States Courts. 

The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Su¬ 
preme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time 
to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and 
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, 
at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not 
be diminished during their continuance in office. 

Section II. Jurisdiction of the United States Courts. 

1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, 
arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treat¬ 
ies made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases 
affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases 
of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the 
United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more 
States; between a State and citizens of another State; between citizens 
of different States; between citizens of the same State claiming lands 
under grants of different States, and between a State, or the citizens 
thereof, and foreign States, citizens or subjects. 


342 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and 
consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court 
shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned 
the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and 
fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress 
shall make. 

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall 
be by jury; and such trials shall be held in the State where the said crimes 
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, 
the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have 
directed. 

Section III. Treason. 

1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying 
war against them, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and 
comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testi¬ 
mony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open 
court. 

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of 
treason, but no attainder shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture 
except during the life of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV. THE STATES AND THE FEDERAL 
GOVERNMENT. 

Section I. State Records. 

Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, 
records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Con¬ 
gress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, rec¬ 
ords, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Section II. Privileges of Citizens, etc. 

1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and 
immunities of citizens in the several States. 

2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, 
on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, 
be' delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the 
crime. 

3. No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regu- 


APPENDIX. 


343 


lation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be 
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may 
be due. 

Section III. New States and Territories. 

1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; 
but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of 
any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more 
States or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the 
States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all need¬ 
ful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property be¬ 
longing to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be 
so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any 
particular State. 

Section IV. Guarantee to the States. 

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a 
republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against 
invasion, and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when 
the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. POWER OF AMENDMENT. 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall 
call a convention for proposing amendments, which in either case shall 
be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, when 
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by 
conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of 
ratification may be proposed by the Congress, provided that no amend¬ 
ments which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the 
ninth section of the first article, and that no State, without its consent, 
shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. PUBLIC DEBT, SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTI¬ 
TUTION, OATH OF OFFICE, RELIGIOUS TEST. 

1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States 
under this Constitution as under the confederation. 

2. This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall 


344 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 
law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary not¬ 
withstanding. 

3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the 
members of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be 
bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no reli¬ 
gious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public 
trust under the United States. 

ARTICLE VII. RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTI¬ 
TUTION. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient 
for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying 
the same. 

Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the States present, 
the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Inde¬ 
pendence of the United States of America the twelfth. In 
witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. 
George Washington, President, and Deputy from Virginia. 

New Hampshire—John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. 

Massachusetts—Nathaniel Gorhum, Rufus King. 

Connecticut—William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman. 

New York—Alexander Hamilton. 

New Jersey—William Livingston, David Dearly, William Patterson, 
Jonathan Dayton. 

Pennsylvania—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, 
George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, 
Gouverneur Morris. 

Delaware—George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Rich¬ 
ard Bassett, Jacob Broom. 

Maryland—James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll. 
Virginia—John Blair, James Madison, Jr. 

North Carolina—William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Wil¬ 
liamson. 

South Carolina—John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles 
Pinckney, Pierce Butler. 

Georgia—William Few, Abraham Baldwin. 

Attest; William Jackson, Secretary. 


APPENDIX. 


345 


AMENDMENTS. 

ARTICLE I. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech 
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to 
petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

ARTICLE II. 

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free 
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. 

ARTICLE III. 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without 
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be pre¬ 
scribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported 
by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, 
and the persons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infa¬ 
mous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, ex¬ 
cept in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when 
in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be 
subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor 
shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, 
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; 
nor shall private property be taken for public use without just com¬ 
pensation. 

ARTICLE VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an Impartial jury of the State and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 


346 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and 
cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; 
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to 
have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 

ARTICLE VII. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined by any court of the United 
States, than according to the rules of the common law. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX. 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be 
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively 
or to the people. 

ARTICLE XI. 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 
one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or 
subjects of any foreign State. 

ARTICLE XII. 

1. The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by 
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not 
be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in 
their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the 
person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of 
all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice- 
President, and of the number of votes for each; which lists they shall 
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the 
United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President 
of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. 


APPENDIX. 


347 


The person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be 
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors 
appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons 
having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted 
for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, 
by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President the votes shall 
be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; 
a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from 
two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary 
to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a 
President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before 
the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall 
act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional dis¬ 
ability of the President. 

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-Pres¬ 
ident shall be the Vice-President if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, 
then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose 
the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds 
of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number 
shall be necessary to a choice. 

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of Presi¬ 
dent shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punish¬ 
ment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropri¬ 
ate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV. 

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject 
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the 
State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United 
States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property 
without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdic¬ 
tion the equal protection of the laws. 

2. Representation shall be apportioned among the several States 
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of 
persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right 


348 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice- 
President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the ex¬ 
ecutive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature 
thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being 
twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way 
abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis 
of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the 
number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male 
citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or 
elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or mili¬ 
tary, under the United States or under any State, who, having previously 
taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, 
or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial 
officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, 
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given 
aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote 
of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. 

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized 
by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties 
for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be ques¬ 
tioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or 
pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion 
against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of 
any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal 
and void. 

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legis¬ 
lation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV. 

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of 
race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro¬ 
priate legislation. 


THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

In Congress, July 4, 1776. 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and 



APPENDIX. 


349 


equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle 
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they 
should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable 
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, 
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That 
whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it 
is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new 
government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing 
its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments 
long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; 
and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more dis¬ 
posed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by 
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long 
train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, 
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their 
right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new 
guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance 
of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them 
to alter their former system of government. The history of the present 
king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, 
all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over 
these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused to assent to laws, the most wholesome and neces¬ 
sary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and press¬ 
ing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should 
be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend 
to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and for¬ 
midable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncom¬ 
fortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the 
sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing 
with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause 


350 


CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF MISSOURI. 


others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of an¬ 
nihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the 
State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion 
from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for 
that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; re¬ 
fusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising 
the conditions of new appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his 
assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of 
their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of 
officers, to harass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without 
the consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior 
to the civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent 
to their acts of pretended legislation: 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: 

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any mur¬ 
ders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States: 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent: 

For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury: 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses: 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring 
province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging 
its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument 
for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies: 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws 
and altering fundamentally the forms of our government: 

For suspending our own legislature, and declaring themselves in¬ 
vested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his pro¬ 
tection and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, 
and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries 
to complete the work of death, desolation and tyranny already begun 


APPENDIX. 


351 


with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas 
to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their 
friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrection amongst us, and has endeav¬ 
ored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian 
savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction 
of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress 
in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered 
only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by 
every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free 
people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. 
We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature 
to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded 
them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We 
have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have 
conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usur¬ 
pations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and corre¬ 
spondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consan¬ 
guinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces 
our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind enemies 
in war, in peace friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, 
in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the 
World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by author¬ 
ity of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that 
these United States are, and of right ought to be free and independent 
States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, 
and that all political connection between them and the State of Great 
Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and inde¬ 
pendent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, con¬ 
tract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things 
which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this 
declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, 
we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred 
honor. 


INDEX TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT 


(The references are to the sections.) 


Acknowledgment of Deed, 380. 
Administrator, 246. 

Agriculture, Department of, 159. 
Ambassadors, 152. 

Amendment, 15th, 137. 

Amendments, 192. 

Annual School Meeting, 312. 
Appropriations, 125, 210. 
order of, 211. 

power of Governor over, 213. 
Arbitration Board, 237. 

Aristocracy, 2. 

Armies, 108. 

volunteer, 109, 
regular, 110. 
cadets, 110. 
cost of. 111. 

Articles of Confederation, 25. 
Assessment of Property, 275. 
place of, 357. 
time of, 358. 

Assessor, county, 275. 

city, 305. 

Asylums, 239. 

Attainder, 121. 

Attorney-General (State), 229. 
Attorney-General (U. S.), 155. 
Auditor (State), 227. 

Ballots, 340, 341, 342. 

Bankruptcies, 91. 
kinds, 92. 
history of, 94. 

Barbers, Board, 237. 

Benefit Assessments, 307. 

Blind School, 239. 

Board of Aldermen, 293. 

Board of Charities, 237. 

Board of Education: State, 237; coun¬ 
ty, 334. 

Board of Equalization, State, 227, 
235; county, 275; city, 305. 

Bank Commissioner, -. 

Bank Examiners,-. 

Board of Geology, 237. 

Board of Health, 237. 

Board of Pharmacy, 237. 

Bonds, 70. 

Cabinet, 151. 

Candidates, nomination, 148, 343. 
Captures, 106. 

Charter Governments, 7, 8, 9, 10. 
Circuit Clerks, 276. 

23 


Circuit Courts, 247, 

Circuit Judge, 242. 

Cities, 287. 

incorporation, 289. 
classes, 291. 

Citizen, 87. 

Citizenship, equality of, 138. 

City Elections, 303. 

City Extensions, 304. 

City Government, 309. 

Class Legislation, 216. 

Coinage, 73, 74, 75, 76. 

Colonies: 

crown, 9, 10, 
proprietary, 11, 12, 13. 
Republican, 14. 

Commerce, 65, 66, 123. 

interstate, 67, 

Committee of Safety, 17. 

Committees and Rules, 208. 

Common Carriers, 396. 

Complaints, 244, 

Condemnations, 398. 

Confederate Home, 239. 

Congress, 20, 33. 

authority of, 180. 
colonial, 21. 
continental, 22. 
sessions, 45, 46. 

Congressional Townships, 371. 
Constables, .245. 

Constitution (State), 188. 

amendment, 192. 

Constitution (U. S.), 26, 29. 
supreme law, 184. 
amendment, 31. 

Consuls, 152. 

Contracts, impairment of, 134. 
Convention, 17. 

constitutional, 26. 

Coroner, 282. 

Corporations, 389, 

stockholders and directors, 390, 
definition and powers, 391. 
duration, 392. 

ownership of real estate, 393. 
foreign, 394, 

educational and religious, 395. 
public service, 396. 
municpial, 397. 

Cost of Schools, 330. 

Counterfeiting, 85. 


(I) 



II 


INDEX TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 


Counties, 268. 

County: 

clerk, 272, 345. 
collector, 273. 
superintendent, 333. 
court, 271. 
school fund, 326. 
seat, 270. 
treasurer, 274. 

Courts (State), 196. 

Courts—supreme, 157. 
appeals, 258. 
circuit, 247. 
criminal* 248. 
probate, 246. 
justices of the peace, 247. 
county, 271. 
efficiency of, 264. 

Court (U. S.), 161. 
supreme, 162. 
district, 162. 

circuit court of appeals, 162. 
court of claims, 162. 
commerce, 162. 
customs appeals, 162. 

Crimes. 

classes of, 243. 
punishment for, 251, 255. 

Criminal Courts, 246. 

Curtesy, 387. 

Deaf School, 239. 

Debts: 

national, 70, 71. 
state, 360. 
county, 275. 
city, 306. 
school, 317. 

Deeds, 379. 

Democracy, primary, 2. 

Department of: 

agriculture, 159. 
interior, 158. 
justice, 155. 

labor and commerce, 160. 

Diplomatic Affairs, 152. 

Domestic Violence, 183. 

Dower, 386. 

Due Process of Law, 173. 

Education, Non-Sectarian, 335. 

Elections: 

time of, 338. 
hours of voting, 347. 
precincts, 339. 
judges and clerks, 340. 
ballots, 340, 341, 342. 
disposing of ballots, 346. 
voting, 346, 344. 
counting votes, 345, 226. 
in St. Louis, 344. 
registration of voters, 349. 
qualifications of voters, 350. 
primary, 343. 

Electors, 148. 

qualifications, 149. 
vacancies in, 150. 
contests, 150. 

Eminent Domain, 398. 

Excise Commissioner, 369. 


Executive Departments: 

State, 194, 221. 

United States, 151. 

Executive Officers, 221. 

powers of, 240. 

Executor, 246. 

Exemptions from Taxation, 336, 354. 
Export tax, 122. 

Ex post facto laws, 121. 

Factory Inspectors,-. 

Pair, State, 239. 

Feeble Minded Colony, 239. 

Felony, 243. 

Fish Commission, 237. 

Freedom of: 

religion, 128. 
press, 129. 
speech, 129. 
assemblage, 130. 

Free Trade, 124. 

Fruit Experiment Station, 239. 

Fund Commissioners, 237. 

General Court, 10. 

Girls’ Industrial Home, 239. 

Gold Coin, 76. 

certificates, 78. 

Government: 

divisions of, 32. 
forms of, 2. 
progress of, 3. 
powers of, 4. 
development of, 6. 

Governor: 

powers, 223. 

qualifications and salary, 224. 
veto, 207. 

Grand Jury, 170, 251. 

Greenbacks, 71. 

Habeas Corpus, 120. 

Heirs, 388. 

Homestead, 385. 

Hospitals for Insane, 239. 

House of Burgesses, 9. 

Impeachments, 49, 220. 

Imposts, 55. 

Indian Trade, 68. 

Indictment, 170, 251. 

Inferior Courts, 162. 

Informations, 251. 

Inheritance Tax, 323. 

Initiative and Referendum, -. 

Inspectors of Factories,-. 

Inspectors of Mines,-. 

Insurance Department, 233. 
Insurrections, 117. 

Interior Department, 158. 

Interstate Commerce, 67. 

Invasions, 182. 

Irrigation, 158. 

Jeopardy, 171. 

Judges, 164. 

Judicial Department, 161. 

Judiciary, 196, 242. 

Jury Trial, 167, 168, 169, 253. 

Justices of the peace, 244. 

Kansas City, 300. 

Labor and Commerce, 160. 

Labor Commissioner, 234. 

Lands, public, 175. 






INDEX TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 


Ill 


Laws: 

how passed, 207. 
on what subjects, 217. 
class legislation, 216. 
when they take effect, 218. 
revised, 219. 
enforcement of, 263. 
ignorance of, 267. 
lands of, 243. 

Legal Tender, 71. 

Legislature, 195, 197. 
sessions, 205. 
powers, 206. 

committees and rules, 208. 
yeas and nays, 209. 

Licenses, 59, 361, 363. 
rate of, 365. 
how obtained, 366. 
how used, 367. 
when revoked, 368, 
Lieutenant-Governor, 200, 225. 

Local Option, 365. 

Magistrates, 10, 

Marine Corps, 114. 

Marque, 107. 

Marshal, 294. 

Massachusetts, 10. 

Militia, 116, 236. 

Ministers, 152. 

Mints, 153. 

Miscellaneous Provisions, 174. 
Misdemeanor, 243. 

Missouri: 

name, 187. 

territorial government of, 185, 
186, 187. 

constitution, 188. 

Monarchy, 2. 

Money: 

amount of, 74. 
emergency, 82. 
bank notes, 83. 

Sherman notes, 72. 
powers over, 69. 

Moneys (State): 

appropriation of, 210, 211, 212. 
custodian of, 228. 
collection of, 273, 274. 

National Guard, 116, 236. 
Naturalization, 87. 

Navy, 113, 115. 
cadets, 115. 
department, 157. 

New States, 174. 

Normal Schools, 239, 331. 

Notes, 71. 
bank, 82. 
bills of credit, 84. 

Oath of Office, 177, 204. 

Occupation Taxes, 364. 

Officers, Other State, 238. 

Partition of Lands, 382. 

Penitentiary, 239. 

Pensions, 158. 

Perjury, 266. 

Petit Jury, 252. 

Police Judge, 295. 

Police Regulations, 308. 

Poll Taxes, 370. 


Post Office, 95. 
routes, 96. 
classes of mail, 97. 
postmasters, 98. 
free delivery, 99, 
rural free delivery, 100, 
registered letters, 101. 
money orders, 102. 
postal union, 103. 
growth of, 104. 

Post Office Department, 156. 

Powers: 

reserved, 131. 
denied to States, 132. 

Precincts, 339. 

Presents, 127. 

President, 139, 

veto power, 145. 
term of, 140. 
qualifications, 141. 
salary, 143. 

powers and duties, 144. 
election of, 147. 

Presidential Electors, 148. 

Private Property for Public Use, 178. 

Probate Courts, 246. 

Prosecuting Attorney, 277, 251. 

Public Administrator, 281. 

Public Lands, 175. 

Public School Endowments, 329. 

Public School Fund, 321. 

Public Use, 178, 398. 

Quo Warranto, 229. 

Railroad Commissionters, 232. 

Railroads, 396. 

taxation of, 227, 235. 
freight rates of, 232. 

Ranges, 374. 

Ratio, 76. 

Recorder of Deeds, 279, 

Referendum,-. 

Reform School, 239. 

Religious Test for office, 177. 

Remainders, 384. 

Reports, 261. 

Representatives, State, 198. 
qualifications of, 201. 
compensation, 202. 
holding office, 203. 
oath of, 204. 

Representatives (U. S.), 34. 
qualifications, 35. 
apportionment, 37. 
gerrymandering, 39. 
voters for, 40. 

Reprisals, 107. 

Republic, 2, 10. 

Republican Form of Government, 
181. 

Revenue, 54. 

collection of, 54, 60. 

Revised Statutes, 219. 

Right, unalienable, 1. 

St. Louis, 301. 

Salaries of State Officers, 231. 

Saloon Licenses, 365, 366, 368. 

School Board, 313. 

School Debts, 317. 

School Districts, 311, 315. 



IV 


INDEX TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT, 


School Funds, 320, 325. 

School Houses, 317. 

School of Mines, 239. 

School Taxes, 316, 317, 319. 

Schools for Colored Children, 332. 
Senate, State, 199. 

Senate, U. S., 41. 

Senators, State, 199. 
qualifications, 201. 
compensation, 202. 
holding office, 203. 
oath of, 204. 

Senators, U. S., 

number of, 43. 
vacancies, 43. 
election, 44. 

Secretary of Navy, 157. 

Secretary of State, State, 220. 
Secretary of State, U. S., 152. 
Secretary of Treasury, 153. 

Secretary of War, 154. 

Sections, 376. 

Seminary Fund, 322. 

Sewers, 307. 

Sheriff, 277. 

Sherman Notes, 72. 

Sidewalks, 307. 

Silver, 76. 

certificates, 79. 

Slavery, 

prohibited, 136. 

Slaves, 

importation of, 119. 

Soldiers’ Home, 239. 

Speaker (State), 200. 

Speaker (U. S.), 36. 

State and Nation, 118, 135. 

State Auditor, 227. 

State Government, 
origin, 185. 

State Treasurer, 228. 

States, New, 174. 

States, rise of, 18. 

Statutes, 243. 

Streets, 307. 

Subsidiary coin, 81. 

Suffrage, equality of, 137. 
Superintendent of Public Schools, 230. 
Supreme Law, 184. 

Surveyor, 280. ^ 

Tariffs, 55. 

protective, 56. 
revenue, 57. 

Taxation; 

exemption from, 354. 
purposes of, 352. 
uniformity of, 355. 


Taxation—rate of: 

for State purposes, 359. 
for county purposes, 286. 
for city purposes, 306. 
for schools, 316, 317, 
for state debt, 360. 
for county debt, 286. 
for city debt, 306. 
for school houses, 317. 
Tax-Books, 275. 

Taxes; 

indirect, 55. 
direct, 62. 
uniformity of, 61. 
purposes of, 64. 

Teachers, 314. 

Territories, regulation of, 176. 

Titles, 126. 

Title to land, 383. 

Township Organization, 285. 
Townships: 

municipal, 284. 
congressional, 371, 375. 

Township School Fund, 327. 

Treason, 179. 

Treasurer: 

State, 228. 
county, 274. 

United States, 153. 

Treasury Department, 153. 

t"! ocj 

Trial by Jury, 9, 167, 168, 252, 253, 
254, 255. 

Trusts and Combinations, 400. 
Uniformity of Tax Rate, 61, 355. 
Union, 19, 24. 

University, 239. 

University Fund, 322, 323. 

Use, public, 398. 

Verdict; 

in justice’s court, 244. 
in other courts, 252. 
in criminal cases, 252. 
Vice-President, 42, 146. 

Villages, 302. 

Virginia, 9. 

Voters, legal, 350. 

War, 105. 

War Department, 154. 

War Vessels, 113. 

Warrants for Arrest, 244. 

Warrants for Money, 227, 228. 
school warrants, 274. 
county warrants, 274. 

Wills, 381, 388. 

Yeas and Nays, 209. 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI 


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THE 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI 


FROM THE 

EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT 


REVISED EDITION 


BY 

Perry S. Rader 


THE HUGH STEPHENS COMPANY 

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI 




Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1904, by 
PERRY S. RADER, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 


Copyright, 1907, by Perry S. Rader. 
Copyright, 1912, by Perry S. Rader. 





CONTENTS 




O 

N 


< 


History of Missouri. 

PART I.—FRENCH AND SPANISH PERIODS. 


Chapters. Page 

I.—Discoveries. 1 

II.—The First Settlements. 6 

III.—Spanish Rule. 10 


PART II.—TERRITORIAL PERIOD. 


Chapters. Page 

I.—The Louisiana Purchase. 19 

II.—Missouri’s First Years as a Territory... 23 

III. —Exploring Expeditions. 27 

IV. —The New Madrid Earthquake. 29 

V.—Other Settlements. 31 


PART III.—MISSOURI AS A STATE. 

Chapters. Page 

I.—The Admission of Missouri into the Union. 1 

II.—First Years as a State.. 49 

III. —Bates and Miller—1824-32. 55 

IV. ^—Governor Dunklin’s Administration—1832-36. 61 

V.—Governor Boggs and Mormon Troubles. 65 

VI.—The Administration of Reynolds and Marmaduke. 70 

VII.—The Administrations of Governors Edwards and King. 77 

VIII.—Benton and the Jackson Resolutions. 86 

IX.—From 1852 to 1860. 90 

X.—The Election of 1860. 102 

XI.—The First Months of 1861. 106 

XII.—The Convention. 112 

XIII. —The Arsenal and Camp Jackson. 116 

XIV. —Boonville, Carthage and Cowskin Prairie. 127 

XV.-—The Battle of Wilson’s Creek. 132 

XVI.—The Last Months of 1861. 137 

XVII.—From 1862 to 1864. 141 

XVIII.—The Administration of Governor Fletcher. 151 

XIX.—McClurg’s Administration. 161 

XX.—The Administration of Governor Brown. 164 

XXI.—Governors Woodson and Hardin. 171 

XXII.—From 1877 to 1892.!. 179 

XXIII.—From 1892 to the Present Time. 186 



































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HISTORY OF MISSOURI 


PART I. 

FRENCH AND SPANISH PERIOD. 


CHAPTER I. 

DISCOVERIE S . 

1. The First White Man. —The first white man to 
put foot on the soil of Missouri was Hernando De Soto, in 
1541. De Soto was a Spaniard. He had been with Pizarro 
in the conquest of Peru, and had returned from his bucca¬ 
neering ventures there to Spain with a fortune of a half rail- 
lion dollars. Hearing of the wonders of Florida and the 
country beyond it, that it abounded in gold and precious 
stones, he was fired with a passion for its conquest, and ob¬ 
tained permission from the king to fit out an expedition for 
this purpose at his own expense. It was more like a royal 
pageant than an exploring party. His force consisted of six 
hundred followers, twenty officers, and twenty-four ecclesi¬ 
astics, all gorgeously arrayed in splendid armor. He landed 
in great pomp at Tampa bay in 1539, and driving a great 
number of cattle and hogs before him for food for his men, 
proceeded west. The Indians and forests interposed. His 
followers were not trained to overcome such hardships. 
Some were killed by the Indians, and others died from sick¬ 
ness. No gold was found. The Indians told him of fab- 

(1) 





2 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


ulous amounts of it to be had on the Mississippi river. He 
pressed forward and reached the river near Memphis, Ten¬ 
nessee, in 1541, and pursued his way north into the region 
now known as New Madrid county in our own State. He 
then moved west, crossed the Ozark mountains, and spent 
the winter on the prairies and plains beyond, all the time 
searching for gold and silver, but finding none. He moved 
southward into Arkansas, reached Hot Springs and White 
river, and then came back to the Mississippi, where he died 
in the spring of 1542. The Indians believed him to be the 
Son of the Sun, who could not die. His priests, to conceal 
his death, therefore, wrapped his body in a mantle, sunk it 
at night in the great river he had discovered, and chanted 
over it the first requiem ever heard in the Mississippi valley. 
“The wanderer,” says Bancroft, “had marched over a large 
part of the continent in search of gold, and found nothing 
so remarkable as his burying place.” Most of his followers 
perished before they reached Spain. 

2. French Explorations. —The Spanish, however, were 
not the first settlers. On the contrary, they did nothing 
toward colonizing Missouri, and it was two hundred and 
twenty years after De Soto’s death till they again appeared 
on this territory. Even the part they then took was unim¬ 
portant. In the meantime the French, moved by a desire of 
doing missionary work among the Indians and enticed by 
the profitable fur trade, had pushed many hundred miles 
further west than had the English settlers along the Atlantic 
coast; had, from their homes in Canada, penetrated the 
forests around the Great Lakes, made several explorations 
of the Mississippi, and taken possession of the country in the 
name of France. The first of these expeditions was in 1673, 
by James Marquette. He belonged to a noble family of the 
beautiful old cathedral city of Laon in France. He was a 
kind of soldier-priest, and it was in the spirit of a mission¬ 
ary to the Indians that he and Louis Joliet, with five other 


DISCOVERIES. 


3 


li men, left Quebec, which was then a French colony, and began 
s a toilsome journey toward the Southwest. They discovered 
I the upper Mississippi, and passed down it to the mouth of 
I the Arkansas. 

I 

3. La Salle and the French Title. —In 1682 La Salle, 

, another Frenchman from Quebec, explored the Mississippi 
I to its mouth, and formally took possession of the whole coun- 
! try in the name of Louis XIV., the reigning King of France, 
in whose honor he called the 
the country Louisiana. All 
the leading nations of Eu¬ 
rope at that time held to the 
principle that the nation 
that discovered and explored 
a great river and established 
any considerable and per¬ 
manent settlement near its 
mouth became the owner of 
all the country drained by 
that river and all its tributa¬ 
ries. The King of France 
made known to the world 
that he claimed the whole 
country drained by the Mis¬ 
sissippi and its tributaries 
by virtue of La Salle’s dis¬ 
coveries, and within a few years permanent French set¬ 
tlements were begun at Natchez, New Orleans and at other 
points along the Mississippi, and hence France became the 
owner of the whole country. As the country now called 
Missouri was drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, 
it was a part of Louisiana, and our soil first belonged to 
France. De Soto as the representative of Spain had long 
before that explored the great fiver and visited this territory, 



4 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


yet he made no settlement anywhere in the Mississippi val¬ 
ley, and hence Spain had no title to the soil. 

4. The Name Missouri. —Most of the early French 
settlements were on the east bank of the Mississippi, but in 
1705 a prospecting party of Frenchmen ascended the Mis¬ 
souri river to where Kansas City is now situated. This 
was the first ascent of this noble river by white men. 
It was first called Pek-i-ta-nou-i, by Marquette, which is 
an Indian word meaning “muddy water.” About 1712 it was 
first called Missouri, from the name of a tribe of Indians 
who inhabited the country at its mouth and along a con¬ 
siderable portion of its banks. It cannot be certainly said 
that “Missouri means muddy water,” or that it does not; 
its precise meaning is uncertain. But it is a fact that this 
definition of the word “Missouri” was given to it after the 
name of the river was changed from Pekitanoui or Pekita- 
nou, which means “muddy water,” to Missouri. 

5. Interior Explorations. —An exploration of the in¬ 
terior of Missouri by the French was begun in 1719. The 
authorities at New Orleans ordered the expedition, and De 
Dutisne was placed in charge of it. He started with his force 
from the mouth of Saline river, a stream about seventy miles 
south of St. Louis. He moved northwest across the Ozark 
mountains to the Osage river, near which he came upon a 
village occupied by Osage Indians, containing about one hun¬ 
dred cabins and huts. One hundred and twenty miles fur¬ 
ther west he found two other large villages, inhabited by 
Poncas Indians, who seemed to own many horses. He re¬ 
turned by way of the Missouri river, and took formal posses¬ 
sion of the country by erecting posts with the king’s arms 
thereon. After this expedition the daring Frenchmen ven¬ 
tured into the forests for purposes of hunting, trading and 
mining. The rapidity with which they came excited the 
jealousy of the Spanish, who still claimed the country. 


DISCOVERIES. 


5 


6. The Spanish Caravan.—The Spanish authorities, 
still covetous of the great Mississippi Valley, determined to 
destroy the power of the French along the Missouri and 
Mississippi. In 1720 they organized a motley troop at 
Santa Fe, stated by writers at the time to consist of 1,500 
men, women and children, but perhaps consisting of less 
than one-third that number, and those mostly soldiers and 
untrained militia. It was given the name of “the Spanish 
Caravan.” It moved across the plains and entered the 
Missouri country, and here was suddenly attacked by the 
Missouri Indians and their kindred tribes, who were allies of 
the French, and the entire troop, except one friar, were 
killed. The French writers of that and later times were 
greatly elated over the entire destruction of this caravan, 
for it put a stop to further claims by Spain to the Missis¬ 
sippi country. In consequence they wrote extravagant ac¬ 
counts of it, and it is doubtful if even yet the exact facts in 
regard to it are known. 

7. Fort Orleans.—The boldness of the Spanish Cara¬ 
van aroused the French to strengthen their hold on the 
country. They sent a force up the Missouri river to build a 
fort and cultivate friendly relations with the numerous 
Indian tribes. De Bourgmont, who had rendered valuable 
service to the French King in Canada and Louisiana, was 
in command, and, aided by twenty soldiers and some serv¬ 
ants, established a fort about fift^n miles from the mouth of 
Grand river, and called it Fort Orleans. It was the first 
European establishment within the present territory of Mis¬ 
souri, and was built in the latter part of 1723. Its exact 
location is not known, but it is certain it was either on an 
island in the Missouri river, long ago washed away, or within 
the boundaries of what is now Carroll county. De Bourg¬ 
mont succeeded, in forming friendly alliances with the prin¬ 
cipal Indian tribes on both sides of the river, and far into 
Kansas, and in 1725 took a dozen of the principal men of the 


6 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Missouris and Osages to France, presented them to the King, 
and then sent them in safety back to their own people. Fort 
Orleans a few years later was abandoned and allowed to 
decay. 

Questions on Chapter I. 

1. Who was the first white man in Missouri? (1) 

2. Describe De Soto’s journey. (1) 

3. What great river did he discover? (1) 

4. Mention some French explorations. (2) 

5. What is said of Marquette? (2) 

6. Who named Louisiana? (3) 

7. In honor of what king was it named? (3) 

8. Upon what did European nations base title in the New World? 

(3) 

9. What did France do to perfect La Salle’s discoveries? (3) 

10. Why was not Spain’s claim good? (3) 

11. Where were the French settlements? (4) 

12. What is said about name of Missouri river? (4) 

13. When was the interior of Missouri first explored? (5) De¬ 

scribe them. (5) 

14. Describe the Spanish Caravan. (6) 

15. What is said of Fort Orleans? (7) 


CHAPTER II. 

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 

8. The First Permanent Settlement. —The first 
place settled in Missouri was Ste. Genevieve (pronounced 
Jen-e-veev) in about 1735. It was about three miles from 
the present town of that name on the Mississippi river, sixty 
miles below St. Louis. For some time daring and hardy 
Frenchmen had been gathering in and around Kaskaskia, a 
settlement in Illinois, until at this time it had about six thou¬ 
sand people. Most of them had come in search of gold and 
silver. Some of them, under Renault, a wealthy and exten- 



THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 


7 


sive miner, crossed over into Missouri in search of these 
metals. They found none, but they did find lead in abun¬ 
dance. Furnaces were prepared for smelting, and it was con¬ 
veyed in boats to New Orleans, and then to France. In 1785 
the old town was destroyed by flood, and the site of the 
present town was selected. Many settlers came from the 
east side of the Mississippi, and the town soon became an 
important trading point. 

9. The Next Settlement.—The next settlement of 
any consequence was St. Louis. Its founder was Laclede, 
whose name has since been given to many business institu¬ 
tions in the State. His full name was Pierre Laclede Li- 
gueste, but he was more generally known as Pierre Laclede. 
He was a man of great business sagacity. In 1762 he and 
some associates obtained from D’Abbadie a monopoly of the 
fur trade with the Indians of Missouri. D’Abbadie was the 
civil and military commander of Louisiana, and exercised a 
vice-regal authority. Laclede explored the regions along the 
Mississippi in search of the best point at which to establish a 
trading post and sell goods. His keen business sense di¬ 
rected him to a bluff on the west side of the river. Here, on 
the spot not far from where the court house now stands, on 
the south side of Market street, which took its name from 
the only market house the city contained for sixty years, he 
cleared away the heavy timber and erected his trading post, 
in February, 1764. This was the beginning of St. Louis. 
Laclede was right. It was the best place for trade then. 
It is the best now. 

10. St. Charles.—The first settlement north of the 
Missouri river was at St. Charles, by Blanchette, “the hunt¬ 
er,” soon after St. Louis was founded. It was at first a mere 
camp of hunters, fur-traders and explorers, but as the years 
went by some of these remained and built houses. So that 
the exact date of the settlement cannot be stated. At St. 

24 


8 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Charles was built the first permanent fort in Missouri, and 
there and near there in after years the Indians committed 
their worst atrocities against the whites. 

11. Missouri Transferred to Spain.—About this 
time ended French rule in Missouri. The battle of Que¬ 
bec, in which had met the chivalrous Montcalm and the noble 
Wolfe, the one commanding the intrepid French and the 
other the invincible English, had been fought more than four 
years before. It was the end of a contest between these tw'o 
peoples for the possession of America. It was decided in 
favor of the English, and the decision marks an epoch in the 
progress of civil liberty. France, by a treaty ratified at Fon- 
tainbleau in 1763, gave up all her territory in America—the 
Canadas, and all that part of Louisiana east of the Missis¬ 
sippi, except New Orleans, to England; and New Orleans and 
all the country west of the river to Spain, as an indemnifica¬ 
tion for her losses in the war. England thus acquired rule 
over the east side of the river before Laclede had settled in 
St. Louis, but Missouri belonged to Spain. England at no 
time before or after this was entitled to Missouri’s soil. Be¬ 
cause of the long war between England and France, the set¬ 
tlers along the upper Mississippi valley, most of whom were 
Frenchmen, greatly disliked the idea of being subject to Eng¬ 
land. It was thought Spain could never exercise dominion 
over her newly acquired territory, and hence many of them 
crossed over the river into Missouri. This will explain why 
the population increased so rapidly for the next few years, 
and why it was mostly French, although governed by Spain. 

12. St. Ange’s Rule.—Although the title to Louisiana 
was now in Spain, the officers of that nation did not succeed 
in formally taking possession of the country till 1770. Soon 
after the treaty was signed, St. Ange de Bellerive, who was 
commander for the French in Illinois, surrendered his author¬ 
ity to Captain Sterling, the representative of England, and 


THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 


9 


settled in St. Louis. He was followed by many of the French 
settlers east of the river. By common consent, and probably 
by permission of the government at New Orleans, he was 
made the commander of the settlement. He was a wise and 
safe ruler. 

13. St. Ange and Pontiac.—St. Ange and the settlers 
were enemies of English rule, and friends to England’s ene¬ 
mies. They were admirers and supporters of Pontiac, a 
powerful Indian chief, who was the terror of the whites from 
the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Pontiac, aided by the 
French, among them some of the settlers along the Missis¬ 
sippi, had met a strong English army at Pittsburg under 
Braddock and George Washington, and disastrously defeated 
it. St. Ange invited Pontiac to visit him, which he did. He 
was entertained with great distinction at the house of Mad¬ 
ame Chouteau (Laclede’s wife), and was visited by the prin¬ 
cipal citizens. But when France lost her possessions in 
America, Pontiac thereby lost his greatest support. His 
allies among the Indians soon afterwards forsook him. He 
was crushed in spirit and sought to drown his sorrow in in¬ 
toxicating drink. He visited Cahokia, a town about six 
miles below St. Louis, in what is now Illinois, richly dressed 
in robes adorned with eagles’ feathers. Becoming stupified 
by drink, he wandered into a thicket near the place, and was 
there assassinated by a Kaskaskia Indian, who was hired by 
an English trader and received a barrel of whiskey for the 
murder. St. Ange had his body brought to St. Louis and 
buried at the intersection of Walnut and Fourth streets, 
close by where the great Southern Hotel now stands. Near 
his grave St. Ange was buried in after years. Houses are 
there now, and it is known by few that the great Pontiac and 
the good St. Ange lie in the midst of the great city. 


10 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Questions on Chapter II. 

1. Where was the first permanent settlement in Missouri? (8) 

2. What is said of Renault and his followers? (8) 

3. When and by whom was St. Louis settled? (9) 

4. Whac is said of St. Charles? (10) 

5. What is said of the battle of Quebec? (11) 

6. What did France get by the Fontainbleau treaty? (11) 

7. What did Spain get? (11) 

8. Why did the French settlers in Illinois come to Missouri? (11) 

9. What did St. Ange do? (12) 

10. What is said of St. Ange and Pontiac? (13) 


CHAPTER III. 

SPANISH RULE. 

14. First Spanish Ruler.—The first Spanish Lieuten¬ 
ant-Governor, acting as a subordinate in most things to the 
Governor at New Orleans, was Don Pedro Piernas. The 
people regretted to see the flag of France lowered, and even 
shed tears when they realized that they were to be ruled by 
one of a different blood and nation from themselves. But 
their regrets did not last long. Piernas was a mild and safe 
ruler. He made few laws, and they were just and easily 
obeyed. He appointed St. Ange captain of his infantry and 
filled nearly all the subordinate offices with Frenchmen. He 
began systematic surveys of the lands and appointed a 
Frenchman surveyor. He further publicly confirmed all the 
land grants made by St. Ange between the time of the trans¬ 
fer of the territory from France to Spain in 1763, and the be¬ 
ginning of the Spanish rule in 1770, which grants would of 
course have been illegal had he not confirmed them. He 
finally won the entire confidence of the people by marrying 
a French lady, so that after they had known him for five 
years they again shed tears to give him up. He had found a 
population of 891, most of whom were confined to St. Louis 



SPANISH RULE. 


11 


and Ste. Genevieve. The people were mostly French, and 
few of them could read or write. There were no schools and 
very little desire for any. But the people were honest, in¬ 
dustrious and peaceable. Indeed, during the entire Spanish 
period of thirty-eight years, only one case of murder of a 
white man by a white man in St. Louis is reported. 

15. The Soil and Settler.—The soil at that time was 
covered with thick forests or rank prairie grass, filled with 
all kinds of game and inhabited by Indians who lived in wig¬ 
wams and hunted and fished for subsistence. The French 
settlers were possessed of an aptitude for easy and peaceable 
intercourse with the natives. They studied their language, 
took part in their sports, adapted themselves to their usages, 
humored their whims, and never ridiculed their religious 
ideas. Often the settler, of plastic temper, with a free-and- 
easy manner, would decorate his hair with eagle feathers, 
attach hairy fringes to his hunting shirt, and mix and mingle 
with the Indians as if they were his equal. And for these 
reasons, and because the French did not attempt to exten¬ 
sively cultivate the lands, there were fewer Indian wars in 
the early settlement of Missouri than in many of the other 
States. 

16. Houses and Ownership of Lands.—The land was 
owned largely by tenancy in common. The settlements had 
each a common in the rear of the houses, inclosing hundreds 
of acres under one fence for the benefit of all. But the settle¬ 
ments themselves were compact villages, for the settlers were 
sociable and loved to congregate together. Nearly all the 
early ones were along some river. A long street usually ex¬ 
tended parallel to it. The land along it was divided into lots 
a few rods wide and perhaps twice as long. On these the 
houses were built, which were usually one story high, con¬ 
structed of corner posts and studs, to which were attached 
numerous cross-ties. Then a stiff mortar, made of mud and 
cut straw, was plastered on to the outside. The roof was 


12 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


shingled with bark or clapboards. The chimney was the cel¬ 
ebrated ‘‘stick-and-dirt chimney.” It was made of rock and 
burnt clay to some distance above the intense heat of the fire, 
and from that distance was finished with alternate pieces of 
wood and clay plaster. The floors were made of logs with the 
upper roundness hewn flat, or of split logs, the flat sides of 
which were turned up, and, by notching in the ends, were 
thus put on a level. These were called puncheon floors. The 
doors were hung on wooden hinges. Back of each house was 
a field, 192 feet wide and 7,800 feet long, containing about 
thirty-four acres. Each villager had one or more of these 
fields assigned to him, according to his desires, or the neces¬ 
sities of his family. Next to the fields was the common, 
stocked with cattle, hogs and horses, the property of all. 

17. Social Relations.—Hospitality was a duty and a 
virtue. Each house was a free hotel to the extent of its ca¬ 
pacity. Amusements, festivals and holidays were frequent. 
There were no statutory laws; no trades, nor professions, 
no courts, no prisons. The priests were their instructors and 
judges in all matters of learning and religion. In politics 
they were attached to France, and were not anxious about 
any political questions, believing that France ruled the world 
and ruled it right. 

18. Settlement of Disputes.—There were no trials 
by jury during either the French or Spanish period. This 
great bulwark of English liberty—perhaps the distinctive 
characteristic of their government wherever the English race 
has spread—had no sway till after Missouri was acquired by 
the United States. If one wished to recover property, or had 
committed a crime, the matter was submitted to a judge, who 
decided as he understood the law and merits of the cause, or 
as his prejudices directed him. 

19. British and Indian Attack.—We have now come 
to the time of the Revolutionary War, which though fraught 


SPANISH RULE. 


13 


with very great consequences, yet disturbed these sturdy set¬ 
tlers very little. They were French subjects of Spain, and 
the war was fought by England and her subjects. These 
settlers, removed a thousand miles from the scene of the war, 
therefore, took no part in it, except as did Spain and France, 
to sympathize with the Colonies and wish for their success. 
In 1778 Virginia sent out General George Rogers Clark, who 
captured the British settlements in Illinois, such as Kas- 
kaskia and Cahokia. The British undertook, soon after this, 
a comprehensive movement for the expulsion of the Spanish 
from the Mississippi Valley. Their plan was to come down 
from Canada and their forts near the Great Lakes, and first 
capture St. Louis and then recapture the Illinois towns taken 
by General Clark. De Leyba, who was the Spanish Lieuten¬ 
ant-Governor, in anticipation of an attack, built a wooden 
tower at the north end of St. Louis, and threw up two lines 
of entrenchments around the western outskirts of the town. 
In the tower he placed five small cannons, and manned the 
intrenchments with 25 soldiers and 281 militia, well armed 
with guns. Four or five months passed and nothing hap¬ 
pened. But on May 26, 1780, a force of 150 English and 
Canadian whites and 1,500 Indians gathered in the woods 
around the town, principally north of it, and first captured 
two citizens at Cardinal Spring, near where the fair grounds 
were situated in later years, one of whom (Cardinal) they 
killed, and then proceeded at once to the attack, but they 
met a spirited resistance. Some of the Indian allies (the 
Sacs and Eoxes), whose allegiance had been bargained for, 
seem to have been half-hearted in the attack because of 
their friendship for the French traders with whom they had 
come in contact, and were charged by the British officer 
in command (Sinclair) with desertion. The other Indians 
were terrified by the cannon and withdrew. Fifty-eight of 
the inhabitants had been killed and scalped, and others 
were taken prisoners. De Leyba was a very unpopular 


14 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


ruler, and it has been stated in various books and long be¬ 
lieved that during this fight he was in a drunken stupor, 
and being aroused by the noise of the cannon directed them 
to be turned and fired upon the gallant defenders of the 
town. But more recent and careful investigation indicates 
that these charges were not true. On the contrary, when 
the official report of the attack and repulse reached Spain 
the king was greatly pleased and conferred on him a high 
rank in his army—an honor which he never knew, for he 
died a month after the attack. His unpopularity was prob¬ 
ably in part due to his speculations in trade, and to the fact 
that he put a stop to the smuggling in of goods imported 
from abroad, which Piernas and Cruzat, his predecessors, 
had allowed to be shipped in and sold without the payment 
of the tariffs which the Spanish government had imposed. 

20. Cruzat and Pirates.—Cruzat had succeeded Pier¬ 
nas as lieutenant-governor in 1775. His first term lasted till 
1778, when he was removed, and De Leyba was appointed. 
His second term, which began in 1780 and lasted till 1787, 
was mild and prosperous. A census, taken in 1785, shows a 
population of about 1,500 for all Missouri, which number 
was swelled to 2,100 by another census of 1788. This in¬ 
crease was largely due to the high waters of the Mississippi, 
which overflowed much of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and 
caused some of the inhabitants of those towns to cross over 
into Missouri. To such a height did the angry waters rise 
that 1785 was long afterwards known as “the year of the 
great water.” While Cruzat was lieutenant-governor, the 
trade of the Mississippi was much impaired by pirates. 
Grand Tower is a large column of rock situated about mid¬ 
way between St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio. Here a 
large band of pirates collected and would capture and pillage 
passing boats, appropriate their cargoes, and kill their crews. 
These depredations went on until 1788, and many a daring 
robbery and foul murder was committed. Other portions of 


SPANISH RULE. 


15 


the river were also infested. That year, however, the gov¬ 
ernor at New Orleans ordered all boats traveling on the river 
to go together. By this means their combined strength was 
too much for the pirates, and they were dispersed and never 
afterwards heard of. 

21. Shawnees and Delawares.—In 1787, Manuel Pe¬ 
rez came into office. During his administration, bands of 
Shawnees and Delawares, driven by the advancement of the 
whites from beyond the Alleghanies and from Ohio and Ken¬ 
tucky, settled near Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau. 
Here they remained for thirty-five years, till 1825, when they 
were required to move still further westward. Although in 
the country north of the Ohio and in their frequent raids into 
Kentucky they had been the bloodiest of savages, after they 
settled in Missouri they were peaceable and industrious and 
never quarreled with the whites of these regions. They be¬ 
came useful to them as hunters and small farmers, and were 
established in small settlements close to the whites as an in¬ 
tervention between them and more unfriendly tribes further 
west. In after years one of these Shawnee chiefs is said to 
have addressed these words to General Harrison: ‘‘You call 
us your children; why do you not make us happy as our 
fathers, the French, did? They never took from us our 
lands; indeed they were in common between us. They 
planted where they pleased, and cut wood where they pleased. 
So did we. But now, if a poor Indian attempts to take a 
little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, up comes 
a white man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree 
as his own.” The honorable conduct of the French settlers 
toward the Indians is a part of Missouri history which admits 
of just pride. 

22. From 1793 to 1804.—In 1793 Trudeau came into 
office, and in 1799 he was succeeded by Delassus (De-la-su), 
the last of the Spanish commandants. Aside from the “hard 
winter” of 1798-1799 and the “small-pox” of 1801, there are 


16 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


but two important facts to consider. They explain the rapid 
increase of the population which in 1800 arose to about six 
thousand, and in 1803 to about ten thousand, and also why 
nearly all of the increase was English instead of French. (1) 
By a voluntary grant from Virginia, Congress in 1784 ac¬ 
quired all the soil north of the Ohio river known as the North¬ 
west Territory, and in 1787 passed a law prohibiting slavery 
therein. Hence many of the settlers in that territory who 
owned slaves came to Missouri, and many others from the 
slave States sought homes where the law did not apply. (2) 
The other cause was the liberal terms upon which the im¬ 
migrant could obtain soil west of the Mississippi. In 1796 
the English of Canada threatened an invasion of Upper 
Louisiana. The Spanish authorities conceived themselves 
under the necessity of strengthening their settlements for 
defense. They argued that the hostility of the people of the 
United States toward England would prove a sufficient guar¬ 
anty of their fidelity to Spain. Hence lands were freely 
offered to all such settlers as would pay the office fees and 
expenses of surveying. By these terms one could get eight 
hundred acres of land of his own choosing for about fifty 
dollars, almost entirely free from subsequent taxes. In 
making these grants no favoritism was shown Catholics as 
against Protestants, and the king gave orders that the people 
were not to be disturbed in the exercise of their religion. 

23. General Conditions.—Such in brief is the history 
of Spanish rule in Missouri. It was, for the most part, brave, 
manly and wise. The people were far away from the civil¬ 
ization of the world, in the very heart of a continent inhab¬ 
ited by savages, with only a few settlements by white persons 
within a thousand miles of them. They were free from tax¬ 
ation, free from the tyranny and interference of a foreign 
king. Yet the amicable terms they maintained with the In¬ 
dians, and the orderly government they held over themselves 
without laws or juries, and almost without officers of any 


SPANISH RULE. 


17 


kind, enlist at once our admiration and hold our serious 
thought. So that we do not wonder that, when the country 
was transferred to the United States in 1804, “few of the 
French and part of the English-Americans only were recon¬ 
ciled to the change, though they never manifested any dis¬ 
content.” 

24. Population.—Another census, taken in 1800, gives 
the population of St. Louis at 925; of St. Charles, at 875; of 
Ste. Genevieve, at 949; of New Madrid, at 782; and the 
entire population of Missouri at 6,028. Of this number 
4,948 were whites, 197 free colored, and 883 slaves. Nearly 
four years later, when the territory was transferred to the 
United States, it had increased to 9,020 whites and 1,300 
colored, most of the latter being slaves. 

Questions on Chapter III. 

1. Who was the first lieutenant-governor? (14) 

2. What is said of his administration? (14) 

3. What is said of the people? (14) 

4. Describe the soil and the settler. (15) 

5. How was the land owned? (16) 

6. Describe the settlements. (16) 

7. Describe the houses. (16) 

8. What was the size of each settler’s field? (16) 

9. And what was the common? (16) 

10. What is said of the social condition of the people? (17) 

11. How did they settle disputes? (18) 

12. Describe the British attack on St. Louis. (19) 

13. Who was the second lieutenant-governor? (20) 

14. Who was commandant before him? (19) 

15. Who was the third lieutenant-governor, and the fourth, and the 
term of each? (20) 

16. What is said about pirates on the Mississippi? (20) 

17. What is said of the Indians? (21) 

18. What were the two principal events of the last twelve years of 
Spanish rule? (22) 

19. Who were the commandants during this time? (22) 

20. What is said of the Spanish rule? (23) 

21. What was the entire population in 1804? (24) 





PART II 


TERRITORIAL PERIOD. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 

25. The Situation.—By the treaty of 1763 Spain ac¬ 
quired all the country west of the Mississippi and the island 
on which New Orleans is situated, and still owned them at 
the close of the eighteenth century. But events which 
startled the world had been taking place in Europe toward 
the close of that century. Napoleon Bonaparte was in the 
full flush of military triumph, and had raised France to great 
political supremacy on land. He wished also to advance her 
to a high position on sea and in commerce. In furtherance of 
this plan he determined to have Louisiana. He asked the 
king of Spain to cede all that territory to France, and in re¬ 
turn offered to establish the king’s son-in-law upon the throne 
of the new kingdom of Etruria, which he was about to set up. 
The transfer was made on October 1, 1800, and thus the title 
to a territory much larger than all the thirteen original colo¬ 
nies was acquired by a stroke of the pen. But the negotia¬ 
tion was kept secret. Napoleon feared if England knew it at 
once she might make it impossible for him ever to possess the 
country. But, nevertheless, the title to Missouri was now in 
France again. We must see how it came to belong to the 
United States. 

26. The Purchase.—It was not many months till it 
became known in America that the cession had been made. 

(19) 



20 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


The announcement created great unrest throughout the 
country, especially in Kentucky, Tennessee and the entire 
Ohio valley, which at that time were inhabited by over a 
half million of people, mostly from the Atlantic States. For 
some years before the transfer to France, Spain claimed the 
sole right to control the navigation of the Mississippi, which 
claim she was enabled to enforce because she owned the land 
on both sides of the river at New Orleans. It was by that 
river only that the people of the Ohio country had a way of 
reaching the world’s markets, and this claim on the part of 
Spain greatly impeded their trade and aroused them to anger 
and to threaten to take up arms to hold the Mississippi open 
and free to their commerce. The people beyond the Alle- 
ghanies gave little heed to these Ohio troubles till Louisiana 
was transferred to France. Then a protest arose from the 
whole nation. A weak nation like Spain was not to be 
feared, but a powerful one like France, in full control of the 
Mississippi river and with a strong garrison at New Orleans, 
could greatly impair the power and greatness of the United 
States. President Jefferson, therefore, instructed Mr. Liv¬ 
ingston, the Minister to France, to protest in the name of his 
nation against any attempt by France to occupy Louisiana. 
But about this time England was drawn into the war against 
Napoleon. She was mistress of the sea and could easily 
thwart Napoleon’s plans of possessing himself of Louisiana. 
She, too, objected to France having that great country, and 
determined to oppose Napoleon in any attempt to possess 
himself of it. From these reasons and because of the demand 
for all his forces for his military operations on land, Napo¬ 
leon saw the coveted prize had gone from him forever. Be¬ 
sides, he was in need of money. But he was determined to 
put it out of the reach of England, and hoping to conciliate 
the United States toward him he proposed to Mr. Livingston 
to sell Louisiana. President Jefferson sent Mr. Monroe, 
afterward President himself, to France to assist in the pur- 


THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 


21 


chase of New Orleans and West Florida—the country lying 
between New Orleans and the present Florida, south of the 
31st parallel of latitude—but on his arrival he found Napo¬ 
leon willing to sell all of Louisiana. Monroe and Livingston, 
therefore, undertook to purchase the whole. Napoleon had 
instructed his representative not to take less than fifty mil¬ 
lion francs, but he at first asked one hundred million. The 
American ministers offered eighty million, and the trade was 
soon closed. Of this sum, which amounted to $15,000,000, 
one-fourth was remitted because of the damage which had 
been done to the trade of the Ohio country after Louisiana 
had been transferred from Spain to France. 

27. Terms of the Contract.—The contract of pur¬ 
chase was dated April 30, 1803, and that has ever since been 
recognized as the date of the purchase, but it was actually 
signed on May 2, 1803. On October 17 the treaty was rati¬ 
fied in the United States Senate by a vote of twenty-four to 
seven; and, on the 21st, Congress, by a large majority of each 
house, at once provided for the bonds with which to pay for 
the purchase. By Article III of the contract, written by the 
great Napoleon himself, it was stipulated that “the inhab¬ 
itants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the 
Union of the United States and admitted, as soon as possible, 
according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to 
the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities 
of citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they 
shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of 
their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess.” 
These words are important, because, as we shall see, they 
entered largely into the controversy which grew out of Mis¬ 
souri’s application for admission into the Union. The pur¬ 
chase having been made and endorsed by Congress, it only 
remained for the United States to take formal possession of 
the territory. This was easily done. On March 9, 1804, 
the American troops crossed the river and entered St. Louis, 


22 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


and Delassus, on the part of Spain, delivered Upper Louisi¬ 
ana to Captain Amos Stoddard, of the United States Army, 
who had been commissioned by France to receive it in her 
behalf, and on the next day he transferred it to the United 
States. The territory thus acquired amounted to over 
900,000 square miles, almost one-third of the entire area of 
the United States at present, and included all the country 
west of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains except a 
part of Texas. A recent government map, “compiled from 
official surveys,” makes it also include Idaho, Oregon and 
Washington, but it included nothing west of the dividing 
line of the Rocky Mountains—the line beyond which the 
waters run west. 

Questions on Chapter I. 

1. What territory had Spain acquired by the Fontainbleau treaty 

of 1763? (25) 

2. What military chieftain was in full triumph at the close of eigh¬ 

teenth century? (25) 

3. What did he desire to do with Louisiana? (25) 

4. How did he obtain it? (25) 

5. What effect did this cession to France produce in America? (26) 

Why? (26) 

6. Who was President at this time? (26) 

7. Why was Napoleon compelled to sell Louisiana? (26) 

8. What Americans made the purchase? (26) 

9. What was the price paid? (26) 

10. What was the date of the contract? (27) 

11. What body ratified it? (27) 

12. How was the land paid for? (27) 

13. What is Article HI? Who wrote it? (27) 

14. Why is this article important? (27) 

15. Who took formal possession on behalf of the Union? (27) 

16. What did the purchase include? (27) 


MISSOURI’S FIRST YEARS AS A TERRITORY. 


23 


' CHAPTER II. 

I 

MISSOURI’S FIRST YEARS AS A TERRITORY. 

28. The New Arrangement.—Louisiana was divided 
into two parts soon after its transfer to the United States. 

I All of it now within the State of Louisiana was then called 
f the Territory of Orleans; to the rest was given the name of 
[ the District of Louisiana at first, but within a year it was 
changed to the Territory of Louisiana. It of course em- 
. braced the country now called Missouri. For the purposes 
of government the district was attached to the then Territory 
of Indiana, whose governor at that time was General William 
Henry Harrison, afterwards President for a short time. He 
first set in operation the powers of the United States over 
the new territory. The people objected to being attached 
to Indiana, and drew up a remonstrance and petition to Con¬ 
gress in which they asked to be organized as a territory of 
the second class. Fifteen men, “elected by the free men of 
the district,” were chosen to prepare the paper, and of this 
number eight were of French extraction, which fact indicates 
of what races were the settlers of Missouri at that time, and 
also how readily the Frenchman adopted the political meth¬ 
ods of his neighbors of English blood, with whom almost alone 
. it was a rule to ask for a redress of grievances by petition. 

29. Neglect of Congress.—Their petition was in part 
granted. Congress recognized three grades of territories at 
that time. The district was separated from Indiana and 
erected into a Territory of the first or lowest grade, instead of 
the second, for which they had asked. The Governor and 
three judges, to be appointed by the President, were to make 
laws for the government of the Territory, subject all the time 
of course to the approval of Congress. This was agreeable 
to the people. But nothing was done toward a settlement of 

25 


24 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


the disputed titles to their lands. These were in great con¬ 
fusion because of the loose way in which the Spanish had 
always made surveys and grants of land, and because much 
soil had been granted to settlers by the Spanish rulers after 
the territory had been ceded to Fiance in 1800 and before it 
had been transferred to the United States in 1804. Nothing 
was done towards remedying the uncertainty of the land- 
claimant’s tenures, and as a result immigration was greatly 
retarded, and the people undertook to defend their titles for 
themselves. In some cases the adverse claimants to the soil, 
with gun in hand, determined between themselves who should 
be its owner. But in 1812, after a delay of nearly eight years. 
Congress passed a law confirming the titles of the inhab¬ 
itants of the different villages to the lands which they had 
occupied prior to the Louisiana purchase. This gave the 
desired relief. The tide of immigration now set in strongly 
again and the price of land increased, in some instances six 
hundred per cent in a few years. It must be remembered, 
however, that these disorders in regard to the land titles were 
almost entirely confined to those parts of the territory which 
had been settled during the Spanish domination and which 
now were fast losing their French aspect because of the rapid 
influx of persons of English blood. 

30. First Territorial Governor.—The first Governor 
appointed under the new order of things was General James 
Wilkinson. With him were associated as chief justice, J. B. 
C. Lucas, a very worthy gentleman, who had been a judge 
in Pennsylvania; and as secretary. Dr. Joseph Browne, who 
was a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr, by whose request he ob¬ 
tained the appointment. Just at the time of Wilkinson’s ap¬ 
pointment the dissatisfaction above spoken of in regard to 
land titles was beginning. His personal popularity as a man, 
and his extensive experience in public affairs, it was thought, 
would check all this, and bring the United States government 
into popular favor with the inhabitants whose traditions, cus- 


MISSOURI’S FIRST YEARS AS A TERRITORY. 


25 


toms and blood were so very different from those of the rest 
of the Union. But this proved to be a said mistake. To 
properly understand why that was true it will be necessary 
to speak of the unusual course of Aaron Burr and Wilkinson’s 
connection therewith. 

31. Burr and Wilkinson.—Burr had, in 1801, been 
elected Vice-President, and prevented from being President 
only by a very narrow majority vote of the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. Becoming unpopular as a politician, sour at his 
disappointment, but still ambitious for political renown, to¬ 
wards the close of his term he came to the West with the ob¬ 
ject of revolutionizing Mexico, making himself its ruler, and 
ultimately attaching all the country west of the Alleghanies 
to his dominions. He expected his chief support from the 
Territory of Louisiana. There is no reason to believe that 
Wilkinson was not influenced by him and perhaps half¬ 
heartedly and secretly joined in his plans. Burr visted the 
Territory in September, 1805, and in 1807 he was put on-trial 
for conspiring to break up the Union, and the next year 
Wilkinson was tried as an accessory to his crime. The latter 
was the principal witness against Burr and in the course of 
the trial was able to show that he had written to the proper 
authorities at Washington more than a year before the final 
collapse of Burr’s plans, that “Burr was about something, 
and an eye ought to be kept on him.” This letter perhaps 
prevented Wilkinson’s conviction, but it will be seen that it 
was written a year after Burr had first visited him. In fact 
the evidence seems strong that Wilkinson at first secretly 
supported Burr, but within a year, from fear of the results or 
from some other equally good cause, concluded it best not to 
yoke his fortunes with Burr’s any longer. Wilkinson, be¬ 
sides his compromising relations with Burr, was a speculator 
in land and his conduct was otherwise odious to the people. 
Hence he was removed after acting as Governor about two 
years and was succeeded by Captain Meriwether Lewis, of 


26 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


the celebrated Lewis-and-Clark Expedition. Wilkinson after¬ 
wards became prominent in the war of 1812, but to this day 
his name is held in contempt. 

32. Other Immigrants.—In the meantime the people 
prospered. The population, at first confined almost entirely 
to the villages, had begun to extend itself into the surround¬ 
ing forests and prairies. Settlers had found their way into 
Warren county, into Franklin county and along the Gas¬ 
conade. Most of the immigrants at this time were from the 
Atlantic States. Their industry, superior knowledge and 
enterprise soon gave them a controlling influence. They 
occupied the most prominent positions and took the lead in 
society and business. No more immigrants came from 
France and Spain. Lands began to have a recognized value 
and soon speculations in them were active. The pursuits of 
the people began to be largely agricultural. In 1808 the 
first newspaper was established. It was the first paper pub¬ 
lished west of the Mississippi river. It was called the “Mis¬ 
souri Gazette,” and with varying success has been contin¬ 
uously published since. Its present name is the “St. Louis 
Republic.” 

Questions on Chapter II. 

1. How was Louisiana divided? (28) 

2. What was that part including Missouri called? (28) 

3. To what was it attached? (28) 

4. How did Congress provide for the government of the Territory? 

(29) 

5. What was the effect of Congress’s neglect? (29) 

6. Who was the first Territorial Governor? (30) 

7. What is said of him? (30) 

8. Describe Burr’s and Wilkinson’s conspiracies? (31) 

9. Who was the next Territorial Governor? (31) 

10. What is said of new immigrants? (32) 

11. Where did they settle? (32) 


EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. 


27 


CHAPTER III. 

EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. 

33. The Famous Expedition of Lewis and Clark was 
projected by President Jefferson soon after the purchase of 
Louisiana, and was placed in 
charge of Captain Lewis, the 
President’s private secretary, 
and Captain William Clark of 
the United States Army, a 
brother of George Rogers Clark. 

Each of these gentlemen after¬ 
wards became Territorial Gov¬ 
ernor of Missouri by appoint¬ 
ment. The company was com¬ 
posed of nine young men from 
Kentucky, fourteen soldiers, 
two French boatmen, two hunt¬ 
ers, an interpreter, and a few 
servants. They began the as- Meriwether Lewis. 

cent of the Missouri river in May, 1804. Near the mouth 
of the Gasconade they passed the last white man’s house 
they were to see until their return. They ascended the 
Missouri to its head waters, stopping off frequently to explore 
the surrounding country, collected facts about the character 
and strength of the various Indian tribes, about the fertility 
of the soil, and the number and extent of the tributaries of 
this long river. They spent the first winter just this side of 
the Rocky Mountains in forts constructed by themselves. 
Early next spring they began crossing the mountains and 
had many a sharp and wild encounter with grizzly bears, 
mountain lions and other animals. In November, 1805, 



28 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


they reached the ocean, having traveled over four thousand 
miles. They spent the winter at the mouth of the Columbia 
river, and as the spring approached started on their return 
homeward. It was the first expedition of the kind ever 
undertaken by our government, and the return of the party 
in September, 1806, safe and successful, after an absence of 
over two years, was hailed with delight throughout the 
entire West. Congress joined in the general acclaim and 
voted each of the persons engaged in the expedition a tract 
of land in recognition of his services; and in further reward 
for Captain Lewis’s services, he was appointed Governor of 
the territory which he had done so much to make known. 

34. Pike’s Expedition. —About the same time Zebu- 
Ion Montgomery Pike made like expeditions to the sources of 
the Mississippi, Arkansas, Platte and Kansas, and thereby 
really rendered almost as much service to Missouri as did the 
expedition of Lewis and Clark. In 1810 the journals of 
travels kept by Pike were published, with maps and atlases 
of the country explored, and extensively read. They fur¬ 
nished the first reliable information of the extent and value 
of the new country. After their appearance all complaints 
about the amount paid for Louisiana were hushed. Pike 
county, in the eastern part of the State, was named for this 
energetic explorer. It was because of his well-earned celeb¬ 
rity, perhaps, that many people in the Eastern States for a 
long time knew the name of only one county in Missouri and 
that was Pike. 

Questions on Chapter III. 

1. What celebrated expedition is discussed in this chapter? (33) 

2. Who were in charge of it? (33) 

3. Describe their journey. (33) 

4. How was their return received? (33) 

5. What is said of Zebulon Pike’s Expedition? (34) 


THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 


29 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 

35. Earthquakes.—A little after midnight of Decem¬ 
ber 16, 1811, began a series of earthquakes among the most 
extensive and destructive in the world’s history. They ex¬ 
tended over half a hemisphere. Sabrina, one of the Azores 
Islands, was elevated 360 feet above the level of the sea. 
Caracas, a city of Venezuela of 10,000 people, was totally 
destroyed and sunk sixty feet under water. In North Amer¬ 
ica, the center of the earthquake’s disturbances, both in 
point of violence and in position, was near New Madrid, on 
the Mississippi river, in the southeastern part of Missouri. 
The disturbances extended north to the mouth of the Ohio 
river, south to the mouth of the St. Francois, and far into 
Arkansas and Tennessee. They began in a sudden shock 
which shook down walls, wrecked houses, tore up trees and 
set many things on the surface contrariwise. This was fol¬ 
lowed by undulations of the earth resembling waves, increas¬ 
ing in elevation as they advanced, and when they had at¬ 
tained a fearful height, the earth would then burst and vast 
volumes of water, sand and pit-coal were thrown up as high 
as the tops of trees. The earth rocked and reeled under men’s 
feet. Fissures were formed, six hundred and even seven 
hundred feet in length, and twenty or thirty in breadth. 
Large oak trees were split in the center and forty feet up the 
trunk, and one part left standing on one side of the fissure, 
and the other part on the other twenty feet distant. There 
issued no burning flames, but flashes such as result from the 
explosions of gas. The atmosphere was filled with this thick 
gas, to which the light imparted a purple hue. The waters 
in the Mississippi river suddenly rose several feet. In some 
places trees which had rested on the bottom of the river for 
perhaps centuries were elevated above the water and yet 
rested on the soil. Other places off the shore suddenly sunk 


30 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


and the water overflowed them. The water thrown up dur¬ 
ing the eruption of the “land waves” was lukewarm, so warm 
as to produce no chilly sensation to persons wading or swim¬ 
ming through it. Many fissures, besides the ones described, 
were of an oval or circular form, forced up to a considerable 
height, and others formed large and deep basins one hundred 
yards in diameter. 

36. Remarkable Results.—A marked result of these 
land disturbances was the great depressions and elevations of 
the surface. Great tracts of country which hitherto had 
been lakes became dry land, and much dry land became lakes. 
Reelfoot Lake, on the opposite side of the river in Tennessee, 
twenty miles long and seven wide, was formed. The trunks 
of dead oaks and cypresses above thirty feet in height are at 
its bottom, over which boats can now be plied without inter¬ 
ruption. A large extent of country on the Missouri side of 
the river was sunk ten feet below its former elevation. Much 
of the soil was ruined for agricultural purposes. 

37. New Madrid Claims.—Afterwards Congress at¬ 
tempted to give relief by passing a law granting to each 
owner who had sustained serious loss a section of land in 
what was known as the “Boone’s Lick country,” on condi¬ 
tion that he relinquish his desolated farm to the Government. 
Perhaps twice as much land was “located” under this law as 
was ever destroyed in the New Madrid country. The “lo¬ 
cations” were called New Madrid claims, and because of 
their conflict with other entries, were the source of much 
litigation. 

Questions on Chapter IV. 

1. What results of the earthquake of 1811 are mentioned? (35) 

2. What was its center in North America? (35) 

3. Describe some of its features. (35) 

4. What other remarkable results are mentioned? (36) 

5. What are “New Madrid claims?” (37) 

6. How much lands were settled under these claims? (37) 


OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 


31 


CHAPTER V. 

OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 

38. First English Settlements .—There were a num¬ 
ber of small and scattered settlements in St. Charles, Gasco¬ 
nade and Warren counties as early as 1800 and the ten years 
succeeding. But we have now come to the first important 
settlement by people of English blood within Missouri. It 
was in Howard county, in the river bottom near Franklin, 
in 1810. The country had been previously visited by Wil¬ 
liam Nash and some surveyors in 1804, who located claims, 
and again by Lewis and Clark, who explored the country and 
speak of having encountered many rattlesnakes there. In 
1807 Nathan and Daniel Boone, at this time residents in St. 
Charles county, and sons of the celebrated Daniel Boone, be¬ 
gan the manufacture of salt at Boone’s Lick in the western 
part of what is now Howard county. This they shipped 
down the river in canoes made from logs, hollowed out and 
made water proof by daubing the open places with clay. 
Col. Banjamin Cooper with his large family joined them in 
1808, but Governor Lewis informed them that the protection 
of the Government from the Indians would not be extended 
to them at that distant home, and ordered them to return to 
the Gasconade settlement. This they did, but in 1810 
Cooper, accompanied by about one hundred and fifty fami¬ 
lies, mostly from Madison county, Kentucky, again came 
to Howard county, and of this great number all settled in 
Howard except Stephen and Hannah Cole, who crossed the 
river and became the first settlers of Cooper county, settling 
near the present site of Boonville. 

39. Daniel Boone was a man whose like this country 
perhaps will never see again. His father came from England 
and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where Daniel was 
born, July 14, 1732 (the same year in which George Wash- 


32 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


ington was born), and where he received the rudest educa¬ 
tion. When he was eighteen years old his family moved to 
North Carolina. In 1769 with five hunters he explored the 
border regions of Kentucky, and was captured by the Indians, 
but soon made his escape. In a short time he was joined by 
his brother, and both were captured and a companion was 
killed. They escaped, his brother returned to North Caro¬ 
lina and he was left alone in the wilderness with only his 
rifle to gain subsistence and defend himself from the Indians. 
He continued his explorations, and in 1773 moved to Ken¬ 
tucky with seven other families, and was soon employed to 
lay out the lands by Virginia, of which Kentucky was then 
a part, and in commanding the garrisons which had been 
established for fighting the Indians. His life in Kentucky 
was spent in hunting, fighting the Indians, being captured by 
them and escaping. In 1792 he lost his lands because of de¬ 
fective title and quitted Kentucky in disgust. Hearing of 
very fertile lands in Missouri, he came here about 1794 and 
settled forty-five miles northwest of St. Louis, in what is 
now Warren county. There he obtained a grant of ten thou¬ 
sand acres of land, by reason of an agreement he formed with 
Delassus to bring one hundred and fifty families into Upper 
Louisiana from Virginia and Kentucky. But the grant was 
never confirmed because Boone failed to get the signature 
thereto of the direct representative of the Spanish crown. 
Afterward Congress granted him one thousand acres for his 
heroic public services. He spent most of his latter days with 
his son, Major Nathan Boone, and died in 1820 in his house, 
a two-story stone, the first of its kind in Missouri, some six 
miles from the Missouri river in St. Charles county. His 
body was buried in a cherry coffin which he had prepared 
himself and kept ready for years. The Legislature adjourned 
for one day out of respect for the old hero. The remains 
of himself and wife were afterward interred with ceremonial 
pomp at Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1845. 


OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 


33 


40. Lewis and Howard.—Wilkinson, the first Gov¬ 
ernor of the Territory of Louisiana, was succeeded in the 
spring of 1807 by Meriwether Lewis, who, while on his way 
to Washington, committed suicide in 1809 by shooting him¬ 
self. He had been high-minded and studious from early boy¬ 
hood, was a man of ability and faithful and heroic public 
service, but at times was subject to fits of deep despond¬ 
ency, and it was supposed that it was while in one of these 
that he took his life at the lonely wayside house in Tennes¬ 
see, at which he had stopped to rest. But his death has al¬ 
ways been shrouded in mystery. There have always been 
persons to assert that he did not commit suicide at all, but 
was murdered. But President Jefferson, who wrote a bio¬ 
graphical sketch of him, says he committed suicide. Presi¬ 
dent Madison appointed as his successor Gen. Benjamin 
Howard of Lexington, Kentucky. In 1812 Congress passed 
a law by which on the twelfth of December of that year 
Louisiana was to be advanced from the first to the second 
grade of Territories, and its name changed to Missouri. The 
last official act of Governor 
Howard was to issue a proc¬ 
lamation ordering an elec¬ 
tion to be held in November 
for a delegate to Congress and 
for members of the Territo¬ 
rial Legislature to be organ¬ 
ized under this law. He re¬ 
signed soon after this to be¬ 
come Brigadier-General in 
the army during the war of 
1812, and died in St. Louis 
in 1814, having filled his pO- Captain WUUam Clark. 

sition with commendable merit. Howard county, which was 
settled while he'was Governor, was named in his honor. 



34 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


41. Clark and Hempstead.—Governor Howard was 
succeeded by Captain William Clark, of the celebrated ex¬ 
pedition of Lewis and Clark. He served as Governor till 
Missouri was admitted into the Union. No man ever in 
the West had more influence over the Indians than did “Red¬ 
head,” the name by which Clark was called by them. He 
stood between them and the whites for years, was always 
their trusted friend and averted many a threatened invasion 
by them, and succeeded in amicably purchasing their lands 
for the United States or obtaining them by treaty. 

Edward Hempstead, of St. Louis, was elected the first 
delegate to Congress in 1812. He was succeeded in 1815 by 
Rufus Easton, and he in 1817 by John Scott, who served till 
Missouri became a State. All were honorable and able men. 

By an act of Congress in 1816 Missouri was advanced 
to the third or highest grade of territorial government. 

42. Franklin.—The settlement about Boone’s Lick 
grew rapidly. However, the Indians, especially the Potta- 
watomies and Foxes, stole the settlers’ horses and kept them 
in almost constant alarm. Five different forts were built 
for their protection, but nevertheless many of the prom¬ 
inent men were killed, some of them in their own houses. 
Yet there was no power to avenge their wrongs or to prevent 
these recurrences except the strength of their own arms, for 
this part of the territory at that time was beyond the organ¬ 
ized jurisdiction of any government. In 1816 Franklin was 
laid off opposite the present site of Boonville. It was the 
first town of any importance west of St. Charles. It grew 
rapidly and soon came to have considerable population. In¬ 
deed, for many years Franklin was the center of society and 
commerce for all that class of immigrants who came from 
the older States, and who for the most part settled, not in 
St. Louis and south of it along the Mississippi, but in what 
soon became Howard county. Among its inhabitants were 
men who afterward became the most prominent Governors 


OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 


35 


and useful Supreme Judges of the State. It was for many 
years a Government land office, with Thos. A. Smith as Re¬ 
ceiver and Charles Carroll as Register. It had the first news¬ 
paper published west of St. Louis, which still lives in the 
Columbia Statesman. The old town has long since been 
mostly washed away by the encroachings of the- Missouri 
river. 

43. Howard County.—Howard county was organized 
in 1816. It at first included all that territory from which 
have since been carved thirty-one counties, twelve south of 
the Missouri river and nineteen north of it. For this rea¬ 
son it was long known as the ‘‘mother of counties.” Its seat 
of justice was first Cole’s Fort, on the south side of the river 
in Cooper county; in 1817 it was removed to Franklin and in 
1823 to Fayette. It was long the center of political influence 
in the State, and in the early days “Howard county, the 
mother of Missouri Democracy,” was frequently heard. 
Around Franklin as a center, population rapidly increased, 
and in a few years it had spread out into what afterwards 
became Boone, Callaway, Cooper and Chariton counties. 
All central Missouri was being rapidly transformed from a 
wilderness into happy homes. 

44. Tide of Immigration.—The War of 1812 ended 
in 1815. At its close immigration to Missouri set in more 
rapidly then perhaps was ever elsewhere known in the United 
States up to that time. The rush was greatest from Vir¬ 
ginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. As many 
as one hundred persons are said to have “passed through St. 
Charles in one day on their way to Boone’s Lick, and this 
rate was kept up for many days together.” Many of these 
“movers” brought with them a hundred head of cattle, be¬ 
sides hogs, horses and sheep and from three to twelve slaves. 
These long trains presented a sight which will never be seen 
in this country again. It was long before the day of rail- 


36 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


roads and just before the time of steamboats. There was 
the huge wagon filled with the family’s “plunder,” drawn by 
three or four yoke of oxen. Next came the herds of cattle 
and sheep, each with many bells, making a beautiful chime, 
and as this mingled with the dull thud of the wagon, the 
coarse voice of the herder and driver, a peculiar impression 
was made which only those can appreciate who have heard 
it. At night the family would camp around the fire, the cat¬ 
tle would lie down and ruminate, the “movers” would recount 
the thrilling incidents of the day, the slaves joining in, and, 
whenever an opportunity offered, telling strangers of the 
“quality” of their families. 

45. Pioneer Life.—^When the immigrant arrived at 
his journey’s end his first business was to look him out a 
farm. Though land speculators had done much to confuse 
titles to the soil, yet land was abundant, and with no great 
toil each man could “open him up a farm.” A log cabin was 
easily raised, and the land fenced with what was known as a 
“Virginia rail fence.” Until his first crop was raised, he 
could easily obtain a subsistence for himself and family by 
hunting and trapping. At that time the forests, and even 
prairies, which were covered with a high luxuriant grass, 
abounded in deer, bears, wolves, panthers, wild cats, wild 
turkeys, and various small game. The flesh of some of these, 
such as the deer and bear, furnished him food, and the skins 
of others were made into serviceable clothes, or sold for money 
to the enterprising French fur traders or exchanged for 
shoes and useful fabrics. While his lot was romantic yet it 
required stern hardihood to endure it. The Indians were 
about him and were not always friendly. The fiercer wild 
animals attacked his young cattle, and often carried away 
his lambs and pigs. He had but few books and papers, 
schools were rare, and only occasionally did he hear the Gos¬ 
pel preached, but his hardships inspired him with self-con¬ 
fidence and a rugged purpose, which yet mark his descendants. 


OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 


37 


46. His House.—His log cabin differed somewhat 
from the houses of the French settlers. The posts were not 
set upright and slats nailed horizontally to them, as was the 
fashion with the French settler, but instead, he generally 
used large logs, hewn into shape, and fitted into one another 
by means of notches in the ends. These were laid one on 
another, in the shape of a pen, and the spaces between were 
filled with pieces of wood called ‘Thinking” and around these 
was daubed a plaster made of clay. The door was made of 
heavy cross-pieces and rough-hewn boards. They were hung 
on wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch on the 
inside. The latch could be raised from the outside by a 
string attached to it which passed through a hole in the door 
above the latch. To lock the door was simply to draw the 
string inside, and so “my latch-string always hangs on the 
outside” became a popular term of hospitality and an assur¬ 
ance of welcome to the neighbor or passing stranger. The 
windows were without glass. The light was admitted by a 
shutter which stood ajar, or through greased paper attached 
to a framework something like a sash. Sometimes the cabin 
was thirty feet square, and if two rooms were built a wide 
hall ran between, and the larger room was called the “big 
house.” As the farmer grew wealthier, population increased 
and the means of transportation improved, all these things 
gave way to the conveniences of modern life. 

47. His Money.—He had little money, and indeed had 
need for but little. He raised his own food. The materials 
for his clothing were grown in his fields or sheared from his 
flocks and were converted into cloth and made into garments 
by the women of the household. What trading he did was 
mere barter; that is, the exchange of one article for another. 
Peltries, lead and its product in the shape of shot, were used 
in the place of money. There were Spanish dollars, how¬ 
ever, and these were often cut into halves, quarters, and 
even eights, which, because of their small size, came to be 


38 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


called "bits,” and so to this day a "bit” is twelve and a half 
cents. For any less amount pins, needles, sheets of writing 
paper, and other articles of small value were used. 

48. Lead and the Fur Trade.—But agriculture was 
not the only pursuit. Lead was produced in great abund¬ 
ance. "One million five hundred thousand pounds were 
annually turned out by the Maramec mines alone, which 
gave employment to three hundred and fifty hands, exclu¬ 
sive of smelters, blacksmiths and others.” Much of it was 
turned into shot and a tower for that purpose was erected at 
Ste. Genevieve. The fur trade was very large. As early as 
1804 it amounted to two hundred thousand dollars per an¬ 
num. Large trading companies, with headquarters in St. 
Louis, were organized, which sent out trappers along almost 
every tributary of the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains. 
The foundation for many a large fortune was thus laid. The 
Chouteaus of St. Louis through this fur trade were known in 
Europe for more than half a century. The better peltries 
were those of the otter, beaver, bear and buffalo. These 
were shipped to France and exchanged for shoes, fabrics, 
sugar and guns. Thus both countries were benefited, each 
getting things they could not then produce, but needed. 

49. The First Steamboats.—In 1811, the New Or¬ 
leans, the first steamboat built west of the Alleghany Moun¬ 
tains, made the trip from Pittsburg to New Orleans. This 
settled forever the question of the use of steam as a motive 
power on the western waters. In the next eight years sixty- 
three steamers were built and plied on the Ohio and Missis¬ 
sippi. On the second of August, 1817, the first steamboat 
that ever ascended the Mississippi above the mouth of the 
Ohio arrived at St. Louis. Its name was General Pike and 
its master was Jacob Read. On May 28, 1819, the Inde¬ 
pendence, the first steamboat to ascend the Missouri, airived 
at Franklin, having been twelve days on the journey from 


OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 


39 


St. Louis. Soon after this, steamboats became common on 
these rivers, and their appearance, which was at first daz¬ 
zling, became familiar sights. They added a new impetus 
to commerce and assisted much in the speedy delivery of the 
mails. Yet these conveniences could scarcely be compared 
to our modern railroads. It usually took a letter from four 
to six weeks to come from New York or Washington, and the 
postage on a single letter, even many years afterward, was 
twenty-five cents. 

50. Business Depressions.—^The last few years before 
Missouri’s admission into the Union was a season of severe 
trial in finances. The year 1818 found nearly everybody in 
debt. The Bank of St. Louis was established in 1816, and 
the next year the Bank of Missouri, with a capital of 51)250,000, 
was organized. These for a time increased the volume of 
business, but also aided reckless speculation. Government 
land was sold for two dollars an acre, one-fourth to be paid in 
cash and the rest in two, three and four years. So numerous 
were the failures on account of the mania for speculation in 
land, that rarely none but the first payment was made. 
Dealing at the stores was also upon credit. Payments were 
made with promissory notes or bank notes, which were con¬ 
sidered as good as cash. These of course drove out the coin; 
and when the day of final settlement came there was no 
money with which to make payments. Land and all kinds of 
farm products, though abundant, were unsalable. The Ter¬ 
ritorial Legislature tried to give relief by issuing ‘'land loan 
notes” which were made receivable for taxes and debts of 
every kind due the State. The United States Supreme Court 
set this act aside as being in violation of the provision of the 
Constitution which forbids any State to “issue bills of credit,” 
and for doing so was of course wickedly censured, but relief 
came in time, though slowly, as is usual after such depres¬ 
sions. 

26 


40 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


51. Population. —The population of the entire terri¬ 
tory now known as Missouri was about 20,000 in 1810. In 
1820 it was 66,000. The population of St. Louis in 1811 was 
about 1,400, “composed of a motley mixture of Canadian- 
French, a few Spaniards and other Europeans, and a some¬ 
what larger proportion of Americans.” In 1820 it was 4,928. 
Of the population of this territory in 1820 about 10,000 were 
slaves. The number of counties increased from five to fif¬ 
teen in the ten years preceding 1820. 


Questions on Chapter V. 

1. Where was the first important English settlement? (38) 

2. Who was in charge of it? (38) 

3. Where were the settlers from? (38) 

4. What is said of Daniel Boone? (39) 

5. Who succeeded Wilkinson as Governor? (40) 

6. When and by whom was this territory named Missouri? (40) 

7. What is said of General Howard? (40) 

8. Who succeeded him? (41) 

9. What is said of Clark? (41) 

10. Who was the first delegate in Congress? (41) 

11. Name two others. (41) 

12. What is said of Franklin? (42) 

13. What is said of Howard county? (43) 

14. For whom was it named? (40) 

15. What is said of the immigrant? (44) 

16. Describe his surroundings in the new country. (45) 

17. Describe his house. (46) 

18. What was used for money? (47) 

19. What is said of lead? (48) 

20. Of the fur trade? (48) 

21. What was the first steamboat on the Ohio? (49) 

22. What was the first to reach St. Louis? (49) 

23. How long did it take the first steamboat to go from St. Louis 

to Franklin? (49) 

24. How did steamboats help? (49) 

25. What is said of financial troubles? (50) 

26. Population in 1810 and 1820? (51) 








PART III 


MISSOURI AS A STATE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 

52. Application to Become a State.—The Territo¬ 
rial Legislature made application for the admission of Mis¬ 
souri into the Union as a State in 1818. The application pro¬ 
duced a violent sectional issue in American politics. It 
opened up a long acrimonious struggle between the North and 
South for political supremacy in the nation. That struggle, 
attended with bitterness from its beginning, continued up to 
the time of the Civil War, through that war, and has scarcely 
ended even yet. The people of Missouri wished to decide 
for themselves whether slavery should exist in the State. 
To this the North urged two strong objections. 

53. First Objection.—The first was, the people were 
sure to permit slavery. It existed in the Territory at the 
time of the application; had been there for fifty years, and 
nothing was surer than that the people would not voluntarily 
abolish it. Since 1787 slavery had not existed north of the 
Ohio river, above the latitude of which lies most of Missouri. 
The admission of Missouri would be a precedent. If the 
privilege were given to her people to decide upon the exist¬ 
ence of slavery within her borders, so must it be extended to 
the whole Louisiana Purchase. Missouri was on the border 
line between free and slave labor. The question, then, was 

(41) 



42 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


whether Congress would interfere with the further extension 
of slavery. If permitted to exist in Missouri, without some 
limitations now agreed upon, it might, by the voice of the 
people, exist in all the Louisiana Purchase. Against its fur¬ 
ther extension many citizens throughout the North protested 
in the name gf freedom, humanity and a higher civilization. 

54. The Second Objection.—The second objection 
was, the admission of Missouri would turn over the control 
of the nation from the North to the South. It was also the 
real objection, the one which did most in controlling the 
Northern members in Congress. The Union had been orig¬ 
inally formed of seven free and six slave States. Up to 
February, 1819, there had always been one more free than 
slave States, there being at this time ten free States and nine 
slave States. The free States had acquired a large and con¬ 
stantly increasing predominance in Congress. This was the 
political situation early in 1819 when the application of Mis¬ 
souri and Alabama to become States came up in Congress. 
Both were slave Territories, both had been settled by emi¬ 
grants mostly from slave States, and of course it was as¬ 
sumed that their political affiliations would be with the South. 
If admitted, the number of slave States would be increased 
from nine to eleven, while the free States would remain ten. 
This would give the South the ascendency in the Senate, 
possibly in the House and nation. 

55. Alabama.—Georgia had ceded Alabama’s terri¬ 
tory, and in doing so had made stipulations in regard to slav¬ 
ery, which were regarded by Congress as deciding that slav¬ 
ery as a form of labor might exist in that State. Accordingly 
Alabama was admitted without opposition as a slave State. 
This made the number of Northern and Southern States ex¬ 
actly the same. The fight for political supremacy, therefore, 
was not made over Alabama, but Missouri, which lay much 
further north, and was supposed to be connectional ground 


THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 43 


between the free-labor and the slavery States, and might, 
therefore, be claimed by either. The South espoused the 
cause of the people of Missouri because it wished to gain 
political ascendency in Congress and because it was inti¬ 
mately interested in the extension of slavery. 

56. The Tallmadge Resolution .—The struggle for 
the admission of Missouri was precipitated in Congress by a 
resolution of Mr. Tallmadge of New York: “That the fur¬ 
ther introduction of slavery shall be prohibited; and that all 
children born within the State after the admission thereof 
shall be free at the age of twenty-five years.” This led to a 
long discussion in which hot and bitter words were bandied 
to and fro with frequency. It will be remembered that when 
the contract of purchase was signed, transferring Louisiana 
from France to the United States, article third, written by 
the great Napoleon, provided that “the inhabitants of the 
ceded territory shall be incorporated into the Union of the 
United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according 
to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoy¬ 
ment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens 
of the United States, and in the meantime they shall be main¬ 
tained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, 
property and the religion which they profess.” This con¬ 
tract, with this article in it, was accepted in 1803 by Con¬ 
gress. It was now seized upon by the opponents of the Tall¬ 
madge resolution as having settled the question of slavery 
in Missouri before her application for admission. Slaves, it 
was contended, were property. Slavery existed in the Ter¬ 
ritory when the terms of purchase from Napoleon were 
signed, when those terms were accepted by Congress, and had 
been here ever since. If, therefore, slavery was to be prohib¬ 
ited' here it should be left to the State itself to do so. Be¬ 
sides, it was further contended that these terms of purchase 
were exactly similar in their tenor to the stipulations Georgia 
had made when ceding Alabama, which stipulations obtained 


44 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


for that State the right to abolish or maintain slavery as she 
pleased. 

57. Discordant Views.—To deny Missouri the same 
right was, therefore, to take from her her dignity as one of a 
Union of equal states, to make her yield to conditions which 
had never before been imposed on any State, and which 
would not now be attempted in her case if the free still out¬ 
numbered the slave States. This point was urged with great 
ability by John Scott, Missouri’s delegate then in Congress, 
who felt that to deprive the people of the right of choosing 
their own local institutions was a humiliating condition, and 
violated the old maxim that ‘'all governments derive their 
just powers from the consent of the governed.” In reply to 
him it was held that slavery existed only by virtue of a local 
law; that it had never been sanctioned by national laws, and 
that on the contrary the Constitution had from the first im¬ 
plied an opposition to it, in that it contained an agreement 
that the slave trade should cease in 1808. The supporters of 
the Tallmadge resolution further held that slavery was not 
only a moral wrong, a political evil, a commercial weakness, 
but it was contrary to universal freedom which must neces¬ 
sarily inhere in a republic. These views were so discordant 
that one would scarcely suppose a compromise for Missouri’s 
admission could ever be reached. Yet such was the fact. 

58. The Missouri Compromise.—This was accom¬ 
plished by the application of Maine for admission in Decem¬ 
ber, 1819, and while Missouri’s case yet seemed hopeless. 
Maine would, of course, be a free State. Had she applied 
for admission at the same time Alabama and Missouri did, 
perhaps all the contention of which we have spoken would 
never have arisen. Then, admitting the three at once, the 
free would not have been outnumbered by the slave States. 
As it was, those in favor of letting Missouri settle the ques¬ 
tion of slavery for herself, declared both Missouri and Maine 


THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 45 


should be admitted without regard to slavery or both kept 
out. This brought on a deadlock in Congress, which lasted 
for weeks and finally ended in a measure known as the '‘Mis¬ 
souri Compromise.” This was an agreement that Maine 
should be brought into the Union; that Missouri should set¬ 
tle for herself the question of the existence of slavery within 
her territory; and that slavery should forever be prohibited 
from all other territory ‘‘north of thirty-six degrees and 
thirty minutes north latitude” which was the south line of 
Missouri. The agreement was implied, though not expressed, 
that Missouri should be admitted into the Union according 
to this agreement. This compromise opened up the way 
for Missouri’s admission. In 1857, long after that was ac¬ 
complished, the Supreme Court of the United States declared 
this compromise, by which slavery was excluded north of 
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, unconstitutional, and 
that, therefore, the South had no right to yield to it and the 
North no right to ask it. 

59. The First Constitution.—But the people of Mis¬ 
souri accepted the compromise as final, and began at once to 
form a State government. A convention to frame a con¬ 
stitution met in a hotel, known as the ‘‘Mansion House,” in 
St. Louis, early in June, 1820. David Barton was elected 
president. Among its members were some very able men. 
Some of them were afterwards very prominent in the affairs 
of the State, such as David Barton, Edward Bates, Alexander 
McNair, Thomas F. Riddick, John Rice Jones, Duff Green, 
Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Benjamin Reeves, A. Buckner, John D. 
Cook and John Scott. There were in all forty-one members. 
They were in session a little over a month, and spent for 
stationery $26.25 and framed a constitution which took 
effect immediately without submission to a vote of the peo¬ 
ple. This constitution was to pass through the fiery ordeal 
of being approved by Congress before Missouri could become 
a State. As had been supposed all along, the Constitution 


46 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


permitted the existence of slavery. It was reasonably and 
properly supposed by the people of Missouri and by the South 
that the Northern delagates had consented to this by the 
agreement known as the Missouri Compromise. But now 
when the State claimed a fulfillment of this promise Congress 
would not stand to the agreement, and hence a second com¬ 
promise had to be agreed upon. 

60. One Clause of Missouri’s Constitution stipu¬ 
lated its Legislature should enact a law to ‘‘prevent free ne¬ 
groes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in the State.” 
This clause, it was now contended, was contrary to a pro¬ 
vision of the Federal Constitution which guaranteed to “the 
citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of citi¬ 
zens in the several States.” The members of Congress from 
the North held that free negroes were recognized as citizens 
in some of the old States and hence this clause in Missouri’s 
Constitution was in conflict with the Federal Constitution. 
Prior to the adoption of the fourteenth amendment in 1868, 
there was nothing in the Constitution of the United States 
declaring who were citizens or what qualification a person 
must have to be a citizen. By that amendment all persons 
born or naturalized in the United States were made citizens. 
But before Missouri’s application for admission into the 
Union it had always been held that each State could say for 
itself who were its citizens, and who should not be. And 
Missouri now claimed she, too, had that right. 

61. An Unreasonable Contention.—This contention 
of those opposed to Missouri’s admission led to an absurdity. 
If one State could declare a certain class of persons “citizens” 
and then the Constitution should come in and say all the 
other States should therefore acknowledge them as citizens, 
too, and should extend to these citizens all the privileges and 
immunities of citizens of each of these respective States, of 
course there would be no limit to citizenship. “Free ne- 


THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 47 


groes” would not alone be citizens. One State might de¬ 
clare a Chinaman or an Indian a citizen, and by this claim all 
the other States must acknowledge him a citizen, and must 
have nothing in their laws which would not allow him '‘all 
the privileges and immunities” of any of their own residents. 
This, of course, led to an absurdity. The object of the clause 
in the Missouri Constitution was to keep persons from set¬ 
tling within her borders who might disturb the peace and 
cause unrest among the slaves. Illinois had exactly the 
same law as late as 1846, and Congress at no time attempted 
to interfere with it. This clause, however, was the subject 
for long and bitter discussion in the House. The Senate saw 
the absurdity and dishonesty of such opposition and soon be¬ 
came in favor of admission. 

62. The Clay Compromise.—It was at this time that 
the great Henry Clay, of Kentucky, came to the rescue. He 
has been called the author of the Missouri Compromise. This 
is a mistake. Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, was the author of 
that measure, yet Mr. Clay gave it his powerful support. But 
he was the author of the second compromise. He induced 
the House to agree to leave the provision for the admission 
of the State to a committee of twenty-three members from 
the House—the then number of States—to act jointly with a 
committee from the Senate. This committee reported to the 
House a resolution admitting Missouri whenever her Legis¬ 
lature should pass a Solemn Public Act repealing the clause 
in reference to the exclusion of free negroes and mulattoes, and 
when this was done the President should proclaim her ad¬ 
mitted. This resolution passed the Senate by a vote of 
twenty-eight to fourteen, and the House by a vote of eighty- 
six to eighty-two. 

63. The Solemn Public Act.—^Then the Governor of 
Missouri called the Legislature together to pass the Solemn 
Public Act. It first spoke of the absurdity of Congress in 


48 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


demanding it, declared if any clause in the State Constitution 
was in conflict with the Federal Constitution, that clause was 
therefore void and had always been; but ‘‘to give to the 
world the most unequivocal proof of her desire to promote 
the peace and harmony of the Union,” it there “solemnly and 
publicly declared and enacted” that no part “of the Consti¬ 
tution of this State shall ever be construed to authorize the 
passage of any law by which any citizen of either of the 
United States shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any 
of the privileges and immunities to which such citizens are 
entitled under the Constitution of the United States.” A 
certified copy of this Act was sent to President Monroe. He 
promptly issued a proclamation declaring the admission of 
the State complete. The precise date thereof was August 
10, 1821. Thus ended for a time the mighty struggle between 
the North and the South which forty years later culminated 
in the Civil War. 

Questions on Chapter I. 

1. What was the effect of Missouri’s application to become a State? 

(52) 

2. What right did the people of Missouri claim for themselves (52) 

3. What was the first objection to this? (53) 

4. What argument was used to support it? (53) 

5. In the name of what did the North protest against the further 

extension of slavery? (53) 

6. What was the second objection to Missouri’s admission? (54) 

7. What was the relative political strength of the North and South 

at that time? (54) 

8. What is said of Alabama? (55) 

9. Why was the opposition waged around Missouri? (55) 

10. What was the Tallmadge resolution? (56) 

11. What was the third article of the contract of the Louisiana pur¬ 

chase? (56) 

12. How was it argued that this article settled the question? (56) 

13. What did John Scott contend? (.57) 

14. What two replies were made to him? (57) 

15. What prepared the way for a settlement? (58) 


FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 


49 


16. What were the terms of the Missouri Compromise? (58) 

17. How did the people of Missouri accept the Compromise? (59) 

18. When was the first Constitution framed? (59) 

19. Name some of the members of the convention. (59) 

20. What objection was urged to the Constitution? (60) 

21. What did this contention lead to? (61) Why? (61) 

22. How did the Senate regard it? (61) 

23. What was the second compromise? (62) 

24. What was the Solemn Public Act? (63) 

25. By what body was it enacted? (63) 

26. When was Missouri admitted to the Union? (63) 


CHAPTER II. 

FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 

64. The First Election.—The first election, under the 
new Constitution, was held on the fourth Monday of August, 
1820. Political parties did not divide the voters. On the 
contrary, the personal popularity and merits of the several 
candidates determined the result, for the most part. Alex¬ 
ander McNair and William Clark, both of St. Louis, were the 
candidates for Governor. The latter had been the Territo¬ 
rial Governor for seven years. He was now defeated by a 
majority of 4,020 votes in a total vote of 9,132. William H. 
Ashley of St. Louis was elected Lieutenant-Governor. The 
State Government in all its branches did not immediately 
go into effect. It was far into the year 1821 before either 
the Circuit or Supreme Courts were in operation. 

65. First Governor.—Alexander McNair was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1774, and received a fair English education. 
His parents died about the time he became of age, and he 
and his brother agreed upon the division of their estate in a 
novel manner—that whosoever should be the victor in a fair 



50 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



encounter should be the owner of the homestead. Alexander 
received a severe whipping at the hands of his brother, to 

which he afterwards ac¬ 
knowledged he owed the 
honor of being Governor 
of Missouri. In 1804 he 
moved to St. Louis, and 
for a number of years 
was United States com¬ 
missary for that station. 
In the city tax list of 
1811, he appears as 
taxed for one of the 
nineteen ‘‘carriages for 
pleasure” then owned in 
that city. During the 
War of 1812 he was 
colonel of Missouri mili- 
Aicxander McNair. tia in the United States 

service. He was elected Governor in 1820, and held office 
till 1824, and died in St. Louis in 1826. He was a man of 
great popularity and strict integrity. 


66. New Counties and David Barton.—The General 
Assembly, which is the name given the legislative branch of 
the State Government, was composed at its first session of 
fourteen Senators and forty-three Representatives. At that 
session, which met in St. Louis in September, 1820, acts were 
passed creating the counties of Boone, Callaway, Chariton, 
Cole, Gasconade, Lafayette, Perry, Ralls, Ray and Saline. 
Most of these were carved from the territory first embraced 
in Howard county. David Barton and Thomas Hart Benton 
were elected United States Senators. They were not al¬ 
lowed to take their seats in the Senate however until 1821, 
because the State was not yet admitted into the Union. Mr. 



FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 


51 


Barton was a native of Tennessee and was a soldier in the 
War of 1812. He had served as judge of the circuit court a 
short time about 1816, but had no brilliant career as a jurist. 
He was a fluent orator and at the time of the admission of 
Missouri he was the most popular man in the State. He was 
chairman of the convention that framed the State Constitu¬ 
tion and was unanimously elected to the Senate in 1821 and 
re-elected in 1825. During his last term he became un¬ 
popular in the State because of his espousal of the cause of 
John Quincy Adams for the Presidency against General 
Jackson, who was a great favorite in Missouri. Accordingly, 
in 1833 he was defeated as a candidate for Congress, but 
afterwards served one term in the State Senate. He died 
near Boonville in 1837. 

67. Benton and Lucas.—Thomas H. Benton was 
elected United States Senator with Mr. Barton, but not 
without great opposition. Mr. Benton had been a resident of 
Tennessee, had there been a member of the Legislature, and 
attained to the rank of colonel as commander of a Tennessee 
regiment in the War of 1812. But his brother, Jesse Benton, 
and Amos Carroll had there fought a duel. Andrew Jackson 
had earnestly espoused the cause of Carroll, which led 
Thomas Benton to vigorously denounce Jackson. In return 
Jackson attempted to horsewhip Benton on the streets of 
Nashville, and was shot in the arm by Jesse Benton. This 
made the Bentons very unpopular in Tennessee, and in 1813 
Mr. Benton came to Missouri. In 1817 he had a very noted 
duel with Charles Lucas, at that time United States attorney 
for the district of Missouri, and a son of the first chief justice 
of the Territory. Lucas was about twenty-five years old, 
and Benton was about forty. Lucas had challenged Benton, 
and when the fight came off was wounded in the neck but not 
killed. He expressed himself as satisfied. Then Benton in a 
violent rage demanded of Lucas that they fight till one or the 
other was killed. This they afterwards did and Lucas was 


52 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


killed. In the minds of many people this action of Mr. 
Benton was regarded as murder, and lost him many friends 
in the new State. He was opposed for the Senate by his ad¬ 
versary’s father, Judge Lucas, and the balloting ran through 
several days without a choice. Finally Mr. Barton said he 
preferred Benton for his associate. He was accordingly 
elected, and served for thirty years, lacking five months, a 
longer time than was ever served by any Senator from any 
State until within recent years. 

68. The First Congressman.—Missouri was then en¬ 
titled to only one Congressman. John Scott was elected. 
He had for some time been the Territorial delegate and was 
a man of ability. He was born in Virginia in 1782, graduated 
at Princeton College in 1805, and soon afterwards settled at 
Ste. Genevieve; was a delegate in Congress from the Ter¬ 
ritory of Missouri from 1817 to 1821 and then a Representa¬ 
tive in Congress till 1827, where he took high rank as a man 
of educated talent and bold integrity, When the contest 
came up in the House of Representatives for the election of a 
President he voted for John Quincy Adams, and was sup¬ 
ported in his action by Senator Barton, but opposed by Mr. 
Benton, who favored Jackson. As a consequence Scott was 
never again returned to Congress. Nor did he ever again 
seek a public office. 

69. The Supreme Court.—By the terms of the Con¬ 
stitution the judges of the Supreme and Circuit courts were 
to be appointed by the Governor, and the appointments con¬ 
firmed by the Senate. This law remained in force till 1851, 
when it was changed, and judges thereafter were elected just 
as other officers. The first members of the Supreme Court 
were Mathias McGirk of Montgomery county, John D. Cook 
of Cape Girardeau, and John Rice Jones of Pike county. 
They were all men of great probity and judicial learning, and 
were elected without any regard to their politics. Mr. Me- 




FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 


53 


‘ Girk remained a member of the court until 1841. Mr. Cook 
resigned within a year or two, and Judge Jones died in 1824. 
j Both had been members of the Constitutional convention. 
Judge Jones had also been very prominent in the Territorial 
days as a member and president of the Legislative Council. 
George Tompkins was appointed in place of Mr. Jones, and 
served till 1845, twenty-one years, and then retired, having 
become sixty-five years old, beyond which age no person was 
j then legally capable of being judge. 

I 70. The State Seal. —The Constitution of Missouri 

j provided that the Secretary of State should procure a seal of 
[ the State with suita¬ 
ble emblems and de¬ 
vices, “which should 
not be subject to 
change.” The Legis¬ 
lature of 1822 directed 
what the devices and 
emblems should be, 
and the present seal 
was fashioned and 
has been in use since. 

The following is a de¬ 
scription of it: On an 
inner circular shield, 
equally divided by a 
perpendicular line, is a red field on the right side (the 
reader’s left) in which is the grizzly or white bear of Missouri. 
Above, separated by a wave line, is a white or silver crescent 
in an azure field. On the left, on a white field, are the arms of 
the United States. A band surrounds this circular shield, on 
which are the words, “United we stand, divided we fall.” For 
the crest, over a yellow or golden helmet is a silver star, and 
above it is a constellation of twenty-three smaller stars— 









54 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Missouri being the twenty-fourth State to unite with the 
Union, the large star represents her and the other stars the 
rest of the Union. The supporters are two grizzly or white 
bears, standing on a scroll on which is inscribed the motto 
of the State, “Salus populi suprema lexes to”—let the wel¬ 
fare of the people be the supreme law. Underneath the 
scroll are the numerals, MDCCCXX, which was the year 
of the adoption of the first Constitution. Around the entire 
circle are the words, “The Great Seal of the State of Mis¬ 
souri.” This seal is still kept in the office of the Secretary 
of State, and is stamped on all commissions of officers and on 
every contract to which the State becomes a party. 


Questions on Chapter II. 

1. When was the first election held? (64) 

2. Who was the first Governor of the State? (64) 

3. What is said of Alexander McNair? (65) 

4. Of what was the first Legislature composed? (66) 

5. What counties were organized at this session? (66) 

6. Who were the first United States Senators from Missouri? (66) 

7. What is said of David Barton? (66) 

8. What is said of Thomas Benton? (67) 

9. What caused him great opposition in the State? (67) 

10. Who was the first Congressman? (68) 

11. Give a sketch of his life? (68) 

12. How were the first Supreme and Circuit Court judges chosen? 

(69) 

13. Who were the first Supreme Court judges? (69) 

14. How long could a judge serve under the first Constitution? (69) 

15. Describe the State Seal. (70) 


BATES AND MILLER. 


55 


CHAPTER III. 

BATES AND MILLER—1824-32. 

71. The Second Governor.—The second Governor 
was Frederick Bates of St. Louis. He had been prominent 
in the Territorial days and was a member of the constitu¬ 
tional convention. His opponent was William H. Ashley, 
who had been Lieutenant-Governor during McNair’s admin¬ 
istration, and who, because of his daring intrepidity in ad¬ 
vancing the fur trade into the Rocky Mountains and in fight¬ 
ing the Indians, had invested his character with much ro¬ 
mance. But Bates was successful. Before Mr. Bates had 
served a year as Governor, the people were called upon to 
mourn his death. Benjamin Reeves of Howard county had 
been elected Lieutenant-Governor along with him, and the 
office of Governor would have fallen to him until a special 
election could have been held had he not resigned before the 
death of Governor Bates, to become one of the Government 
commissioners in the opening up of the noted road from 
Leavenworth to Santa Fe. Under the law, therefore, the 
office devolved on the President of the Senate pro tempore, 
who at that time was Abraham J. Williams of Columbia, and 
who at once began to exercise the duties of Governor. But 
he was not permitted to fill out the remainder of the Gover¬ 
nor’s term. Under the Constitution of 1820 the Lieutenant- 
Governor (or if there was a vacancy in that office, the Presi¬ 
dent of the Senate pro tempore), on the death or resignation 
of the Governor, succeeded to the office, and held it only 
until a special election could be held to fill the vacancy. Gov¬ 
ernor Williams proclaimed a special election to be held De¬ 
cember 8, 1825, which resulted in the election of John Miller 
of Howard county, who served out the remainder of the term. 
27 



56 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


This was the only time in the history of the State that the 
President of the Senate pro tempore became Governor. 

72. Frederick Bates.—Frederick Bates was born in 
Goochland county, Virginia, in 1777. His education was be¬ 
gun in a private family school and ended in an academy. He 

studied law and at the age of 
twenty went to Detroit, a military 
post, and became its postmaster. 
In 1805 he was appointed by Pres¬ 
ident Jefferson the first judge of 
the Territory of Michigan. In 
1806 he moved to St. Louis, and 
from that time till Missouri became 
a State Mr. Bates was continually 
in some capacity a Territorial 
officer. He was Secretary of the 
Territory under Governors Lewis, 
Howard and Clark, and during the 
interims between their administra¬ 
tions he was acting Governor, and 
also during their protracted absence from the Territory. In 
1808 he compiled the “Laws of the Territory of Louisiana,” 
the first book printed in St. Louis. In 1824 he was elected 
Governor to succeed McNair, without any solicitation or 
effort on his part. He died August 4, 1825. 

73. Duels.—Dueling had become a threatening evil 
among the prominent men of Missouri, and had greatly 
shocked public sensibility. Many of the duels had been 
fought on an island in the Mississippi river below St. Louis, 
which was long afterward known as “Bloody Island.” Dur¬ 
ing the administration of Governor Bates the Legislature 
undertook to break up this barbarous practice by making it 
odious. A bill passed both houses making the “whipping 
post” the mode of punishment. But the Governor vetoed 




BATES AND MILLER. 


57 


i the bill because he could not approve of whipping as the 
penalty. In his veto message he said: '‘I am happy to 
record my utter detestation and abhorrence of dueling. My 
duty to my neighbors and myself would compel me, if pos¬ 
sible, to put down so barbarous and so impious a practice.” 
After his veto the bill failed to pass. This is the first re- 
corded veto by a Governor of Missouri of which we have any 
' knowledge. 

74. The Visit of Lafayette.—The year 1825 was 
made memorable by the visit of Marquis de Lafayette, and 

I his son, George Washington Lafayette, to St. Louis. This 
I great man, after an absence of fifty years in his own beloved 
s France, had on the invitation of the President of the United 
States made a visit to the country whose independence he 
i had done so much to win. While his own land had been 
' filled with tumult, war and poverty, he now found the thir¬ 
teen Colonies developed into a strong young nation of twenty- 
six States, happy, prosperous and free. He visited every 
State, and in St. Louis, with its largely French population, 
he was received with great favor. His entrance into the city 
was an ovation—not like the triumph of a military conqueror, 
but like that of a devoted father and patriarch returning to 
his own after a long absence in a patriotic trust elsewhere. 
He came up the Mississippi, landed at the city on April 29, 
1825, where half of its population had assembled to meet him, 
all familiar with his name, and many of them of the same 
blood and familiar with his language. 

75. The Capital of Missouri was by the Constitu¬ 
tion of 1820 to be fixed on the Missouri river within forty 
miles of the mouth of the Osage; and at its first session there¬ 
after the General Assembly appointed a commission of five 
men to determine upon its location, and they chose Jefferson 
City, and the first session of the Legislature held there was 
in 1826. Prior thereto it had held its sessions at St. Charles. 


58 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Congress had granted the State four sections of land to be 
used for the seat of government and for raising money to 
erect a suitable State house. Most of these were sold and 
the proceeds were used to pay the costs of the new building. 
The Capitol, begun in 1823 and completed in 1826, burned 
down in 1837, and a new one, erected in 1838, was enlarged 
in 1887 to more than twice its original size. Just about 
nightfall on February 5, 1911, a bolt of lightning from an 
almost cloudless sky struck the Capitol dome, and again it 
burned down. The Constitution of 1875 declared that the 
General Assembly should have no power to remove the seat 
of government from Jefferson City. The Legislature in 
1895 submitted to the people an amendment to the Consti¬ 
tution providing for the removal of the capital to Sedalia, 
but by an overwhelming vote they rejected it. After the 
fire in 1911 there began a small agitation for the removal of 
the capital to St. Louis, but the General Assembly refused 
to submit to the people any such proposition, but did submit 
one for the issuance and sale of $3,500,000 in bonds, to pro¬ 
vide means for building a new Capitol in Jefferson City, and 
the people overwhelmingly approved of that proposition. 
The law provided for a commission of four men to have 
charge of the plans and contract of construction to be chosen 
by the five chief executive officers of the State, and they 
chose Edwin W. Stephens of Columbia, Joseph C. A. Hiller 
of Glencoe, Alfred A. Speer of Chamois and Theo. Lacaff 
of Nevada. 

76. John Miller.—In 1828 General Miller was re¬ 
elected Governor, without opposition. The Adams party, 
which was now beginning to be called the Whig party, had 
no candidate. Daniel Dunklin, of Potosi, was elected Lieu¬ 
tenant-Governor. Miller’s administration was most satis¬ 
factory to the people. He was born in Berkeley county, Vir¬ 
ginia, November 25, 1781, reared on a farm, and had the 


BATES AND MILLER. 


59 


advantage of a common school 
education only. He evinced 
his predilection for military life 
when a boy by always ‘‘playing 
soldier,” and his ability to lead 
by always being captain of his 
company. In the early part of 
the last century he located at 
Steubenville, Ohio, where he 
edited and published a news¬ 
paper. While thus engaged, he 
was appointed general of the 

I State militia of Ohio, and held 

I the rank of colonel in the United 

: States army throughout the 

I war of 1812. He commanded the Nineteenth United States 
Infantry and was assigned to duty under General William 
Henry Harrison. At the close of the war he was retained in 
the regular army and ordered to duty in Missouri. In 1817 
he resigned his command and held the office of Register of 
Lands till 1825, when he was elected Governor, and served 
till 1832, a period of nearly seven years, a longer term than 
has ever been extended to any other Governor. He after¬ 
wards was a Representative in Congress for six years, and 
died March 18, 1846. 

77. General Prosperity.—Governor Miller’s adminis¬ 
tration was a time of general prosperity. The great body 
of the people were quietly toiling and preparing for the rising 
greatness of the State. All kinds of agricultural industry 
were followed with profit. At first most products sold at 
very low prices; wheat at fifty cents per bushel, potatoes at 
fifty cents, flour at one dollar and fifty cents per hundred and 
pork at the same price, cows at from eight to twelve dollars 
and working oxen at from thirty to forty dollars. But these 
low prices were largely due to the difficulty of reaching the 





60 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


world’s markets. Toward the close of his term steamboats 
became more frequent on the rivers, and transportation 
cheaper and easier. Then prices became better. 

78. Prairie Fires.—The ‘‘prairie fires” at this time pre¬ 
sented a sight never to be seen again. The prairies and woods 
were filled with snakes and numerous wild animals. To de¬ 
stroy these and prevent vegetation from decaying, in the 
nights of spring and fall the “prairie fires” were set, and made 
a beautiful scene, though sometimes attended with danger. 

79. The Election of 1832.—At the election in 1832 
there were three candidates for Governor. Daniel Dunklin 
of Washington county was the Democratic, Dr. John Bull of 
Howard was the anti-Jackson candidate and Samuel C. Davis 
was an independent candidate. Dunklin was elected by a 
majority of about 1,100. The Lieutenant-Governor was 
Lilburn W. Boggs of Jackson county. Dr. Bull and William 
H. Ashley were the same year elected members of Congress, 
under a new apportionment which gave Missouri two Repre¬ 
sentatives instead of one. Governor Dunklin was inaugu¬ 
rated November 22, 1832. 

Questions on Chapter III. 

1. Who was the second Governor of the State? (71) 

2. Who was his opponent? (71) 

3. What profitable trade did he advance? (71) 

4. How long did Bates serve? (71) 

5. Who succeeded to his office on his death? (71) 

6. Why did not the Lieutenant-Governor do so? (71) 

7. Who was elected Governor in 1825? (71) 

8. Give a sketch of the life of Bates? (72) 

9. What is said of dueling? (73) 

10. What is thought to be the first Governor’s veto? (73) 

11. Describe the visit of Lafayette to St. Louis. (74) 

12. What is said of the capital of Missouri? (75) 

13. When was an attempt made to move it? (75) 

14. How? (75) 

15. Who was elected Governor in 1828? (76) 


DUNKLIN’S ADMINISTRATION. 


61 


16. What was the Adams party now called? (76) 

17. What is said of John Miller? (76) 

18. What is said of Miller’s administration? (77) 

19. Why were prices low? (77) 

20. What is said of prairie fires? (78) 

21. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1832? (79) 

22. Who was elected? (79) 


CHAPTER IV. 


GOVERNOR DUNKLIN’S ADMINISTRATION—1832-36. 

80. Governor Dunklin.—Daniel Dunklin, fourth Gov¬ 
ernor of Missouri, was born in South Carolina in 1790; 
moved to Kentucky in 1807, and to Potosi, Missouri, in 1810. 
He was sheriff of Washington county while Missouri was yet 
a Territory, and was a member of the constitutional conven¬ 
tion of 1820. He became Governor November, 1832, and 
espoused the cause of public schools so ardently that he may 
be justly called the father of the common school system of 
Missouri. One nionth before his term as Governor expired 



he resigned to accept the office 
of Surveyor-General of Missouri, 
Illinois and Arkansas, which 
had been tendered him by 
President Jackson. In this 
capacity he established the 
boundary line between Missouri 
and Arkansas, and laid out 
many of the counties of these 
three States. He died in 1844, 
and is buried near Pevely, 
Jefferson county, on the serene 
bluffs overlooking the Missis¬ 
sippi—one of the most beauti- 


Daniel Dunklin. 


ful places on the majestic river. 




62 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


81. Cholera.—The Asiatic cholera, perhaps the most 
violent epidemic ever known in America, reached St. Louis 
in 1832. It had devastated cities in Europe; had crossed 
the seas and invaded New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. 
The people of St. Louis had taken warning and made vigorous 
efforts to prevent its coming by using proper food and care¬ 
fully cleaning the streets. But the deadly malady nestled in 
the wings of the wind and baffled all opposition. It first at¬ 
tacked a soldier at Jefferson Barracks, at the outskirts of the 
city. It then spread rapidly among the people, many of 
whom fled to other climates. It lasted six or seven weeks. 
During a greater part of this time there were from twenty to 
thirty deaths a day. When it finally disappeared there had 
fallen one in every twelve of the city’s population. It also 
appeared the same year in Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, 
and other places, but the next year it prevailed with greater 
fatality in them. In 1849 it came again to St. Louis, with 
more direful results. In the midst of the consternation 
which seized upon the people a board of physicians pro¬ 
nounced against a vegetable diet and in favor of meat, and 
the city council passed a law prohibiting the use or sale of 
vegetables. The people, interpreting this to mean that 
meat was a remedy for the disease, engorged themselves 
with it, eating even to gluttony. The price arose to enor¬ 
mous sums. But in a month or two the undue stimulating 
effects of the meat diet were seen, and the ordinance re¬ 
pealed. But still the number of deaths reached one hundred 
and sixty a day, and between April 30th and August 6th, 
4,060 persons died from cholera alone. In 1850 and 1851 
and again in 1867 it prevailed at various points along the 
Mississippi and Missouri, but rarely reached the towns a few 
miles from the river courses. In all these places the dreadful 
pestilence stalked the land leaving death and despair in its 
wake. The healthiest and stoutest men were often the first 
stricken. Persons of robust bodies would be attacked and in 


DUNKLIN’S ADMINISTRATION. 


63 


three or four hours waste away to skin and bones. So in¬ 
fectious was the disease supposed to be that burials frequent¬ 
ly took place at night by torchlight, and often women and 
even parents assisted in burying their own dead. 

82. The Platte Purchase forms an unique niche in 
our American history. It was a procedure by which a large 
tract of land was added to an already large State. It was 
brought about by the inhabitants of Clay and adjoining coun¬ 
ties, led by men then or afterwards prominent in the State, 
and all gentlemen of ability and honor. Among them were 
General Andrew S. Hughes, who was said to be scarcely 
second to the celebrated John Randolph in wit and sarcasm 
and was a lawyer of excellent parts; William T. Wood, after¬ 
wards a resident of Lexington and a well-known judge; A. 
W. Doniphan, the brave commander of “Doniphan’s Expedi¬ 
tion” of the Mexican War; and David R. Atchison, after¬ 
wards United States Senator. With the assistance of these 
gentlemen. Senators Benton and Linn pushed through Con¬ 
gress a bill by which all the country now embraced in the 
counties of Atchison, Andrew, Buchanan, Holt, Nodaway and 
Platte became a part of Missouri. On September 17, 1836, 
Captain William Clark, who had been superintendent of 
Indian affairs throughout Missouri since the time he was the 
Territorial Governor, formed a treaty with the Sac, Fox, and 
Iowa Indians, by which they ceded this territory to the 
United States. In return the Indians were given $7,500 and 
four hundred sections of land in northwestern Kansas, and 
the entire country, therefore, has been known as the Platte 
Purchase. It all lies between the Missouri river and a me¬ 
ridian line drawn through the mouth of the Kansas river, 
at Kansas City, and comprises one of the richest bodies of 
land to be found anywhere. In December, 1836, Congress 
passed a law opening the country to settlement, and the next 
year found it teeming with people from every State, and many 






64 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


came from Canada, on account of the Canadian rebellion. In 
a few years Platte county was next to St. Louis in population, 
and sent three members to the Legislature, and Buchanan 
sent two. This ascendency continued till the large emigra¬ 
tion to Kansas in 1856. 

83. The Election for Governor in 1836 took place in 
August, and was preceded by a warm campaign. Lilburn 
W. Boggs was the Democratic candidate, and William H. 
Ashley of St. Louis, the Whig candidate. Boggs was elected, 
and Franklin Cannon of Cape Girardeau was chosen Lieu¬ 
tenant-Governor. The vote at this election was sixty per 
cent greater than it had been four years before. In Novem¬ 
ber John Miller of Howard and Albert G. Harrison of Calla¬ 
way county were elected Representatives in Congress. 

Questions on Chapter IV. 

1. Who was the fourth Governor of Missouri? (80) 

2. Who was the father of the Public School system? (80) 

3. What further is said of Dunklin? (80) 

4. What is said of the Asiatic cholera? (81) 

5. When did it first come and what places did it visit? (81) 

6. When did it next come and what results attended it in St. Louis? 

(81) 

7. When and where did it come again? (81) 

8. How did it attack the people? (81) 

9. What is said of the Platte Purchase procedure? (82) 

10. Who were the principal men in the movement? (82) 

11. What counties did it add to Missouri? (82) 

12. Who conducted the negotiations with the Indians? (82) 

13. What were the terms of exchange? (82) 

14. What Indian tribes were concerned in the purchase? (82) 

15. What is said of the settlement of the country? (82) 

16. In what months were the elections of 1836 held? (83) 


GOVERNOR BOGGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 


65 


CHAPTER V. 


GOVERNOR BOGGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 


84. Governor Boggs.—Lilburn W. Boggs was born at 
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1796. He served as a soldier in the 
War of 1812, and in 1816 came to Missouri, first settling 
at St. Louis, then at St. 


Charles, Franklin, and in 
Jackson county, being en¬ 
gaged most of the time in 
the fur trade. In 1826 he 
was elected to the Legisla¬ 
ture, and served in that 
body during several ses¬ 
sions. In 1832 he became 
Lieutenant - Governor, and 
on the resignation of Gov¬ 
ernor Dunklin assumed 
the duties of his office. He 
was elected Governor in his 
own right within a month, 



Lilburn W. Boggs. 


inaugurated November 23, 1836, and served four years. He 
was afterwards a leading member of the State Senate, and 
in 1846 moved to California, where he filled honorable public 
offices, and died in 1861. 


85. Mormon Troubles.—The founder of Mormonism 
was Joseph Smith, an uneducated, eccentric, erratic youth of 
New York, who regarded himself as the “Revelator and 
Prophet” of a new faith, and claimed he was, by divine ap¬ 
pointment, to establish a kingdom as precursory of the mil¬ 
lennial reign of Christ on earth. He was born in Vermont, 
and removed with his father to Palmyra, New York, in 1815. 




66 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Here he became within a few years much impressed by reli¬ 
gious revivals. In 1823 he claimed an angel named Moroni 
came to him and revealed the place where plates of gold, 
containing inscriptions of the early history of America, could 
be found. These plates this angel delivered to him at the 
place mentioned in the dream. They were covered with 
Egyptian characters, resembling hieroglyphics, and by the 
aid of Oliver Cowdery he translated them into the '‘Book of 
Mormon,” as a special revelation from Heaven. This book 
has been the mythical source of the Mormon faith, and is 
accepted by the faithful Mormon as a revelation from God, 
of equal authority with the Bible. 

86. At Independence.—Smith made some converts 
in New York. In 1831 he moved to Ohio, and the next year 
to Jackson county, Missouri, found the “Zion” of hjs proph¬ 
ecy at Independence and named it the “New Jerusalem.” 
The “Saints” entered much land, owned all things in com¬ 
mon, though most of the titles were in the bishops, estab¬ 
lished the “Lord’s Storehouse” at the New Jerusalem and 
started the Evening Star, the first newspaper published in 
that part of the State, in which weekly appeared “revelations” 
promising wonderful things to the faithful. They called all 
persons not Mormons, Gentiles, and pronounced curses upon 
them, who tarred and feathered two of their bishops and 
threw their printing press into the streets. An encounter 
took place between the Mormons and Gentiles in 1833, near 
the present Kansas City, in which the latter were defeated, 
and two Gentiles and one Mormon were killed. Then the 
Mormons determined to drive out the Gentiles from Inde¬ 
pendence, but the latter were successful and compelled the 
Mormons to cross the river into Clay, Carroll and chiefly 
Caldwell county. 

87. Far West.—In Caldwell county the Mormons 
began another town and called it “Far West,” and Smith 




GOVERNOR BOGGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 


67 


promised it would soon become one of the mighty cities of 
the world. Missionaries canvassed the East for converts. 
They poured into the new town rapidly. Settlements soon 
extended over four or five counties. In 1837 they began 
work on the temple at Far West. It was to be the most 
magnificent in the world. But it was never to be completed. 
Many industrious, prosperous citizens had been drawn hither. 
Many thieves had also come. They believed it was safe 
for them to steal from the Gentiles. They, therefore, wan¬ 
dered through the country and appropriated whatever they 
saw and desired. The majority of the people being Mor¬ 
mons, no punishment was inflicted upon the thieves, as they 
also claimed to be Mormons. This condition appealed to 
the citizens of other parts of the State for interference. 

88. Outside Interference.—It first began at DeWitt 
on the Missouri river in Carroll county. Here the Mormons 
had established a thriving settlement. It had a good wharf 
for boats and was the best port for Far West trade. Colonel 
G. W. Hinkle was the principal man of the town. A com¬ 
mittee of citizens, led by Rev. Sarchel Woods, notified him 
that at a large meeting in Carrollton it had been determined 
to drive the Mormons from DeWitt. Hinkle drew his sword 
and defiantly threatened death to all persons who would 
interfere with the Saints. ‘Tut up your sword. Colonel,” 
said Mr. Woods; “I am an old pioneer, have heard the In¬ 
dians yell, the wolves howl and the owls hoot; and am not 
alarmed at such demonstrations.” But Hinkle did not go, 
and toward the last days of September, 1838, four or five 
hundred troops, under Congreve Jackson of Howard county, 
had bivouacked near the town. The Mormons were rein¬ 
forced also, and the Gentiles were anxious for a fray. But 
Judge Earickson, of Howard county also interfered in the 
interest of amicable settlement. The Mormons finally 
agreed to leave, to pay for all the cattle stolen, and the Gen- 


68 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


tiles were to pay first cost on the lands. Men, women and 
children loaded their goods into wagons and started a long, 
sad train for Far West. 

89. Mormons Expelled.—The indignation against the 
Mormons had now become general. The people clamored for 
their expulsion from the State. Governor Boggs ordered out 
the militia to put down the insurgents and enforce the laws. 
General John B. Clark of Howard county was put in charge 
of the raw militia and General A. W. Doniphan of the regular 
militia. A thousand Mormons, commanded by Colonel Hin¬ 
kle, were in arms. In the southwest part of Caldwell, Clark 
and Doniphan first met David Patten, who led the “United 
Brothers of Gideon,” and who was there killed. Fifteen 
miles east of Far West they met 125 Mormons under arms, 
and a skirmish ensued in which eighteen of them were killed, 
some of them after they had surrendered. Clark and Don¬ 
iphan pressed on toward Far West. The Mormon leaders 
agreed upon terms of surrender without a battle. They 
were to deliver up their arms, surrender their prominent 
leaders for trial, and all other Mormons should leave the 
State. Much distress followed these terms of surrender and 
the consequent removal. Many of the Mormons were poor. 
Like most early settlers of Missouri, they had put most of 
their money into land. With this they were required to part 
for almost nothing. Farms were traded for a horse, or a 
wagon, or a yoke of oxen. Most of their number, at that 
time about 4,000 in Caldwell county, went to Nauvoo, Illi¬ 
nois. Far West is now a cornfield with only a few grave¬ 
stones to mark its former site. 

90. Among the Leaders Surrendered were Joseph 
Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Colonel Hinkle, Jacob Gibbs, and 
others, about twenty in all. They were indicted for treason, 
arson, murder, robbery, resisting legal process, and other 
crimes. By change of venue their cases were taken to Boone 


GOVERNOR BOGGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 69 


county for trial. On the way Joseph Smith escaped by brib¬ 
ing the guard. Pratt escaped from jail. Gibbs and the 
others were tried before Judge David Todd and acquitted. 
General Doniphan was their lawyer. Joseph Smith joined 
his followers in Illinois. There, about 1842, he had another 
'‘revelation” authorizing polygamy. He, his brother, and 
others were arrested and lodged in jail. Here a mob put 
them to death in June, 1844, but not till the Prophet had 
fought with desperation for his life, killing one man and 
wounding two others. After his death the “Council of 
Twelve Apostles” elected Brigham Young to be his successor. 
The Mormons were soon driven from Illinois to Utah, where 
they are still numerous and powerful. Some of them, how¬ 
ever, among them Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, both 
of whom attested Smith’s “Book of Mormon” as “a divine 
revelation and translation,” remained in Missouri at the time 
most Mormons went to Nauvoo, withdrew from the body of 
Latter Day Saints, denounced its espousal of polygamy, and 
organized the “Church of Christ,” which yet has an influen¬ 
tial following in Ray and other counties, and holds to the 
“Book of Mormon” as a “divine revelation.” 

91. The Part Taken by Governor Boggs in driving 
out the Mormons determined some reckless persons among 
them upon his assassination. He lived at Independence, 
and to that place in 1841 came Peter Rockwell, a Mormon, 
who hired himself as a common laborer under a different 
name. After he had become acquainted he easily found an 
opportunity for his desperate intention. Late one evening 
as Boggs was leaning with his back to an open window, 
Rockwell shot him in the head. The wound was a terrible 
one; three of the balls lodged in his head and neck; another 
passed through and came out at the mouth. Nevertheless, 
he recovered. Rockwell was tried and acquitted. 


70 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Questions on Chapter V. 

1. Who was the next Governor of Missouii? (S4) 

2. What is said of him? (84) 

3. What is said of Joseph Smith and the origin of the Book of Mor¬ 

mon? (85) 

4. When did the Mormons first come to Missouri? (86) 

5. How were they received at Independence? (86) 

6. What is said of Far West? (87) 

7. What now became the conduct of some persons claiming to be 

Mormons? (87) 

8. Why were they not punished? (87) 

9. Describe the troubles at DeWitt. (88) 

10. For what purpose did the Governor order out militia? (89) 

11. Who was in command? (89) 

12. Whom did they first meet? (89) 

13. What of the next skirmish? (89) 

14. What did the Mormons now do? (89) 

15. What was done with their leaders? (90) 

16. What was Smith’s next revelation? (90) 

17. What became of him? (90) 

18. Who was his successor? (90) 

19. And what became of the Mormons of Illinois? (90) 

20. What is said of another sect of Mormons that remained in Mis¬ 

souri? (90) 

21. Describe the attempt to assassinate Boggs. (91) 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 

92. Financial Troubles and State Banks.—At the 

time of the Presidential election of 1840, there was some dis¬ 
satisfaction in Missouri with the Democratic party, which 
had been in power in the Federal Government for many 
years, because of the widespread financial troubles of a few 
years before. These had grown out of the wild speculations 
in lands and general recklessness in trade which had seized 
upon the nation some years before, and these financial panics 




ADMINISTRATION OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 71 


were the natural results of the stringency and reaction fol¬ 
lowing those reckless speculations. But the Whig party saw 
a good opportunity to turn them to fine political advantage 
and was not slow to do so. A few years before, the charter 
of the old United States Bank, which had been in existence, 
with the exception of a few years, for forty years, expired. 
The Whigs strongly favored its re-charter, but were defeated 
by the Democrats under the lead of President Jackson. After 
the overthrow of the bank, he had the national funds depos¬ 
ited in the various State banks. In each State there was 
one central bank, with branches at other commercial cen¬ 
ters. In Missouri the principal bank was in St. Louis, with 
a branch at Fayette, and later on other branch banks were 
established at other points. This action on the part of Jack- 
son preceded only about a year the storm which swept over the 
financial world in 1837, although the death blow to the bank 
had been given in 1832. The fate of the bank had little or 
nothing to do with the distress, yet they came close together, 
and the Whig party made much out of the coincidence. But 
the people of Missouri had, from their organization as a 
State, profited by the lessons learned in the financial trou¬ 
bles of 1818, and had avoided in a great measure much of the 
speculation rife elsewhere. They had always believed in 
“hard money,” or gold and silver, and hence never were af¬ 
flicted with the “wild-cat” paper currency which proved so 
injurious to the prosperity of some States, except as they felt 
it in their outside trade. The Democratic party being then 
the special advocates of “hard money,” the majority of them 
up to this time had voted with that party. 

93. The State Ticket and the Result.—The Whigs 
undertook to win them from their old faith, and the cam¬ 
paign of 1840 was the most energetic of any ever had in the 
State prior to the Civil War, if not up to this time. They 
supplemented their national ticket in Missouri by adding to 
28 


72 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


it one of the most powerful stump speakers ever in the State, 
General John B. Clark of Howard county, as candidate for 
Governor. Their principal doctrines were opposition to 
Jackson’s policy, and the liberal use of the State’s and Gov¬ 
ernment’s money in public improvements within the State. 
But the Democrats were also active. They regarded Presi¬ 
dent Jackson as the people’s friend and the doctrines he and 
his followers so much emphasized as the true principles of 
civil government. In opposition to Clark they nominated 
Thomas Reynolds, also of Howard county, a man of solid 
worth, and in spite of the active efforts of the Whigs the 
Democrats again carried the State, as they had always done 
since the formation of parties in the State, and as they have 
usually done since. Thomas Reynolds was elected Gov¬ 
ernor, and Meredith M. Marmaduke of Saline, Lieutenant- 
Governor. 

94. The Whigs .—The Whigs at this election for the 
first time assumed a distinct organization in Missouri. Be¬ 
fore that, some Whigs had been very prominent in politics, 
and had been elected to important offices, but they were 
chosen often on account of their personal popularity and 
worth, rather than because of their politics. But for the next 
twelve years the party made bold and aggressive campaigns 
at every election, although it at no time gained control of the 
State. Among its members were many of the ablest and best 
men Missouri has ever had. They were also its wealthiest, 
which fact contributed no little to their defeat at the polls. 
The Whigs were often styled the “aristocrats” of Missouri by 
their political enemies, and this did its share in preventing 
the party from gaining a strong hold on the popular heart. 

95. Muster Day.—Muster day was a time of much 
interest to the people of Missouri up to about 1840. In 1825 
the Legislature had enacted an elaborate law for organizing 
the militia. By it all men over eighteen years old and under 
forty-five, except a few specially exempt, were enrolled as 


ADMINISTRATION OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 73 


State soldiers. The purpose of the law was to prepare the 
State for Indian wars or any other emergency that might 
arise. On the first Saturday of April every year, the citizens 
of each township, or, if the population was sparse, of each 
county, came together to be organized into companies and 
drilled for soldiers. This was called ‘‘Muster Day.” Then 
in May all the companies in a county came together and were 
organized into battalions, drilled and paraded for several 
days. In October drills were had by regiments and brigades. 
All of these occasions were looked forward to by the people 
with a great deal of interest and expectation. The wealthy 
made display of gorgeous uniforms and splendid steeds, and 
chivalric heroes were received with demonstration of popular 
favor. On Muster Day nearly all the people from the sur¬ 
rounding country witnessed the organization and drill of the 
soldiers, and as a result it became a time when debts were 
paid, loans made, and much trading done. No other day in 
all the year was so generally observed and none did so much 
to get the people acquainted with each other. It also did 
much towards cultivating a pride in the State and her insti¬ 
tutions. Offices in the militia, though almost entirely with¬ 
out emolument, were as eagerly sought after as any in the 
State. However, there were some persons exempt from this 
service. They were any civil officers, preachers, teachers, 
millers, and students in school. Ministers were at no time 
required to perform any kind of military service, nor were 
they permitted to hold any civil office till the new Constitu¬ 
tion was adopted in 1865. But under the military law min¬ 
isters could be chaplains, and to be chosen as such was an 
honorable distinction. 

96. Imprisonment for Debt.—The one act in Gov¬ 
ernor Reynolds’s life for which he will be most remembered, 
and in which he most prided himself, was the repeal of all 
laws which permitted imprisonment for debt. This was done 
by the Legislature at its session in 1842-43. Up to this time 


74 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


when one proved in court that another owed him a debt, how¬ 
ever small or large, he could have him imprisoned till it was 
paid. The laws in those times were unduly hard on the 
debtor. They allowed him but few things that a sheriff could 
not lay hold of and sell. If he had been unfortunate and lost 
his property, he could retain not over a hundred dollars worth 
for his family, and besides the avaricious creditor could come 


with an armed officer and 
take him away to jail, and 
thereby deprive his wife and 
children of the benefit of his 
toil. The worst part about 
such a law was that it was 
the cruel and avaricious man, 
the one without mercy or a 
danger of want, who oftenest 
made use of it. It also 
worked the greatest hard¬ 
ship on those who needed the 
State’s protection most. This 
barbarous law, which was 
once in force in most of the 



Thomas Reynolds. 


early States, Governor Reynolds determined to have re¬ 
pealed. He wrote the act himself and by earnest and persist¬ 
ent endeavor pushed it through the Legislature. It was one 
of the shortest laws ever enacted, and simply read, “Im¬ 
prisonment for debt is hereby forever abolished.’’ 

97. Thomas Reynolds.—Governor Reynolds, elected 
in 1840, was a man of excellent ability. He was born in Ken¬ 
tucky. He resided in Illinois for a few years, and was there 
Supreme Judge of the State. In 1828 he moved to Missouri, 
was successively a member of the General Assembly, Speaker 
of the House, Circuit Judge, and Governor. While yet hold¬ 
ing this last office, on February 9, 1844, for the first time in 
his life, he asked a divine blessing at his breakfast table, then 


ADMINISTRATION OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 75 


went to a room in the Executive Mansion, locked the door 
and shot himself. For sev¬ 
eral months he had been in 
poor health. It was thought 
this and domestic troubles 
had impaired his sanity. 

He left a note in which he 
said ‘‘the abuse and slander 
of his enemies” had ren¬ 
dered his life a burden to 
himself and prayed God to 
“forgive them and teach 
them more charity.” Lieu¬ 
tenant - Governor Marma- 
duke became the Governor 
and served till the twen¬ 
tieth of the next November, 
being a man of eminently respectable talents, and making a 
wise and safe officer. 

98. The Election of 1844.—The election of 1844 has 
some interest beyond ordinary elections. Congress, at a pre¬ 
vious session, had given instruction for the division of the 
State into Congressional districts. By the census of 1840, 
Missouri had, because of the great increase of her population, 
become entitled to five Representatives in Congress instead 
of two, as was the case from 1830 to 1840. Up to this time 
the State had never been divided into Congressional districts, 
nor was it now. The Legislature would not acknowledge 
the authority of Congress in the matter and refused to dis¬ 
trict the State. This action created some feeling in political 
affairs, and the Whigs, professing to believe the election of 
Congressmen on a general ticket in this wise would be illegal, 
refused to nominate candidates, and let the election go by 
default. The Democrats, left free from the opposition of a 
common rival, disagreed among themselves. One faction, 




76 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


which wished for silver and gold (hard) money and also 
desired the return of Thomas H. Benton to the Senate, be¬ 
came known as “Hards,” and nominated John C. Edwards of 
Cole county for Governor, and James Young of Lafayette for 
Lieutenant-Governor, and placed on the same ticket five can¬ 
didates for Congress.’ The “Softs” desired a liberal issue of 
paper money and were opposed to the return of Mr. Benton 
to the Senate, his long dominant influence in the State having 
become distasteful to them. They did not nominate a candi¬ 
date for Governor, but supported Charles H. Allen, an Inde¬ 
pendent candidate, who was also supported by the Whigs. 
Edwards was elected by a majority of 5,600 votes, and was 
inaugurated November 20, 1844. At this election John S. 
Phelps and Sterling Price were elected to Congress—men 
destined to become very prominent in State affairs for the 
next thirty years. 

Questions on Chapter VI. 

1. What caused dissatisfaction with the Democratic party? (92) 

2. What had caused these troubles? (92) 

• 3. What is said about the establishment of State banks? (92) 

4. What did the Whigs claim this action caused? (92) 

5. What about “wild cat” money in Missouri? (92) 

6. What course did the Whigs pursue? (93) 

7. What is said of John B. Clark? (93) 

8. How did the Democrats regard Andrew Jackson? (93) 

9. Whom did they nominate for Governor? (93) 

10. Who were elected? (93) 

11. What is said of the Whigs in section 94? 

12. Describe the militia and muster day. (95) 

13. What is said of positions in the militia? (93) 

14. What citizens could not then hold civil office? (95) 

15. For what great act is Thomas Reynolds remembered? (96) 

16. What is said of such a law? (96) 

17. What were the exact words of the repealing statute? (96) 

18. Who became Governor in February, 1844? (97) 

19. Discuss the election of 1844 and the issues? (98) 

20. What two noted men were elected to Congress? (98) 


ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARDS AND KING. 


77 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF GOVERNORS EDWARDS AND 

KING. 

99, Governor Edwards.—John Cummings Edwards, 
the eighth Governor of Missouri, was born in Kentucky in 
1806, but was reared in Rutherford county, Tennessee, and 
received a classical education. 

He was licensed to practice 
law in Tennessee, and came 
to Missouri in 1828. In 1830 
he was appointed Secretary of 
State by Governor Miller, and 
held the office till 1837, and 
then was a member of the 
Legislature for one term, in 
the meantime giving special 
attention to his farm, of 
which he was very fond. In 
1840 he was elected to Con¬ 
gress, and in 1844 he became 
Governor and served till the 
27th of December, 1848. The following May he left Missouri 
for California, where he died in 1888. 

100. Texas.—The annexation of Texas and the ac¬ 
quirement of New Mexico are a part of the history of Mis¬ 
souri. The United States had once a shadowy title to Texas. 
In 1819 it was traded to Spain for the Floridas. The policy 
of the nation, it mattered not which party was in power, was 
from that time on to regain it. But from the time Spain ac¬ 
quired it there had been a constant stream of emigrants 
thither from Missouri. Hence the people of this State were 
closely connected with those of Texas by ties of blood. ‘‘It 



78 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


is probably within the bounds to assert that between 1822 
and 1836 there were few prominent Missouri families that 
were not at some time represented in the life of Texas.” A 
Missourian named Austin made a settlement there and gave 
his name to its present capital. In 1835 Texas won her inde¬ 
pendence from Mexico in a predatory war known as the Texas 
Rebellion, and was largely assisted by Missourians who could 
not ignore her cry for help, although all the assistance given 
was by private citizens, who gave, their aid on their own re¬ 
sponsibility and not from any authority or consent of the 
State or Union. But soon after winning her independence 
Texas desired to become a State. This was at first stoutly 
opposed, but in 1844 her admission to the Union was made 
the principal issue in the Presidential campaign. Missouri’s 
interest in the matter was yet strong. She was in favor of the 
admission of Texas, and so cast her vote against Henry Clay, 
the most popular candidate the opposition could bring for¬ 
ward, and always a favorite in Missouri. The nation as well 
declared for her admission, and the matter having been set¬ 
tled by the popular voice, Texas was admitted into the Union 
in 1845. Mexico had prior thereto warned the United States 
that such admission would cause her to declare war. Accord¬ 
ingly on April 24, 1846, the Mexican commander on the 
Texas border notified General Zachary Taylor that he con¬ 
sidered hostilities to have begun, and a few days afterwards 
Congress declared ”war existed by the act of Mexico.” 

101. Doniphan’s Expedition. — Many Missourians 
took part in the Mexican War. A few hundred of them joined 
the regular army under Taylor and Scott and shared in the 
honor of capturing the city of Mexico. But so far as the 
United States was concerned, this was by no means as im¬ 
portant as the subjugation and acquirement of New Mexico, 
which was done almost entirely by Missouri volunteers. In 
the middle of May, 1846, Governor Edwards called for volun¬ 
teers to join the ”Army of the West.” Thirteen hundred and 


ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARDS AND KING. 


79 


fifty-eight men assembled at Fort Leavenworth from the coun¬ 
ties of Jackson, Lafayette, Saline, Clay, Franklin, Cole, How¬ 
ard, and Callaway. A. W. Doni¬ 
phan of Clay was elected colonel, 
and because of his prudent wisdom 
and energy in the campaign, it has 
usually been called “Doniphan’s 
Expedition.” They were joined at 
Leavenworth by 300 regulars from 
the United States army, with 16 
pieces of artillery, and the whole 
force was placed under the com¬ 
mand of General Kearney, also a 
citizen of Missouri. In June they 
set out over the plains for Santa 
Fe, 900 miles distant, and reached 
it in less than fifty days, having 
traveled through an uninhabited country and suffered much 
for water, yet with little loss in men or animals. 

102. Capture of Santa Fe. —Upon their approach the 
Mexican governor abandoned the place, and so the Americans 
took possession “without firing a gun or shedding a drop of 
blood.” Santa Fe was then the center of the overland trade 
with Missouri and the distributing point for all trade with 
northern Mexico. It was the political capital of the country 
north of the Rio Grande, which hitherto had resisted all at¬ 
tempts at conquest by Texas. The next day after its capture. 
General Kearney issued a proclamation by which he absolved 
the people from all allegiance to Mexican authority, and by 
“one stroke of the pen transformed them into citizens of the 
United States.” With characteristic energy and aggressive¬ 
ness, General Kearney caused a constitution and code of laws 
to be prepared by Doniphan and Willard P. Hall, both Mis¬ 
souri lawyers, which changed New Mexico in name and fact 



Alexander W. Doniphan. 



80 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


from a province of Mexico into a Territory of the United 
States. He appointed Charles Bent Governor and Francis P. 
Blair Attorney-General. He then set out for the Pacific 
coast to bring California under like subjugation, leaving Col¬ 
onel Doniphan in command. The day after his departure 
Colonel Sterling Price arrived at Santa Fe. He had resigned 
his seat in Congress and taken the lead of a large force of men 
and marched to join the “Army of the West,” one company 
having been collected from each of the counties of Boone, 
Benton, Carroll, Chariton, Linn, Livingston, Monroe, Ran¬ 
dolph, Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis. 

103. Battle of Bracito. —Leaving Price in charge of 
the troops at Santa Fe, and having in a short time put down 
a considerable uprising of the Navajo (pro. Nav-a-ho) In¬ 
dians, who had long been in hostilities with the people of 
New Mexico, Doniphan started to Chihuahua (She-waw- 
waw), 900 miles distant, to join General Wool. A sandy 
desert ninety miles wide, without wood or water, had to be 
crossed. In three days this was done and the army had run¬ 
ning water. They arrived on Christmas day at a little place 
called Bracito (Bra-se-to). Here they halted and began to 
collect feed for their horses and water and fuel. Suddenly a 
superior force of Mexicans darted upon them in full fire. The 
Missourians quickly formed on foot, held their fire till the 
Mexicans came within easy range of their guns and after a 
half hour’s fighting drove them from the field, “leaving 63 
dead and 150 wounded.” 

104. Capture of Chihuahua. —Two days later Doni¬ 
phan reached El Paso and learned Wool had not taken 
Chihuahua nor moved toward it. After waiting till the 
eighth of February for the arrival of some artillery from 
Santa Fe under Captain Weightman, also a Missourian, he 
set out again. In three weeks he was within fifteen miles of 
Chihuahua, 225 miles from El Paso, with 924 effective men 


ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARDS AND KING. 


81 


and a caravan of 300 traders’ wagons which had followed him 
all the way for protection and trade with the Mexicans. 
Here Doniphan learned '‘the enemy was strongly posted on 
high ground, fortified by entrenchments and well supplied 
with artillery,” consisting of “about 4,000 men, of whom 
1,500 were rancheros badly armed with lassos, lances and 
cornknives.” Despite their superior numbers he determined 
to attack them. He advanced with seven dismounted com¬ 
panies and three mounted. A charge of these with the aid 
of two twelve-pound cannon decided the battle. The Mex¬ 
icans fled. Three hundred of them were killed, three hun¬ 
dred wounded and forty taken prisoners. The Missourians’ 
loss was one killed and eleven wounded. The Missourians 
now started for the mouth of the Rio Grande, which they 
reached the ninth of June, 1847, and the next day embarked 
for New Orleans and for home. 

105. A Pleasing Incident. —After leaving Chihuahua 
only one incident need be mentioned. The Mexican people 
of Parras had shown great kindness to the sick of Wool’s 
army. After he left they had been plundered and threatened 
by a marauding band of Indians. Although Mexicans, they 
appealed to Doniphan for help, who detached Captain Reid 
and thirty-five men for the purpose. They severely punished 
the Indians and recaptured and returned to their parents 
eighteen Mexican boys and girls. This shows how willing 
these Missouri boys were to do an act of humanity to even 
an enemy in distress. 

106. Results of the Expedition. —This was the end of 

“Doniphan’s Expedition.” He had traveled 3,000 miles 
from Fort Leavenworth to the mouth of the Rio Grande in 
twelve months, with a loss all told of less than fifty men, and 
had prepared the way for the acquirement by the United 
States of New Mexico and much of Arizona and California, 
a tract all told much larger than Missouri. 


82 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


107. Price Around Santa Fe.—We must return to 
Santa Fe to note what had been going on there. There was 
a “deadly hostility” toward the Americans; an intrigue was 
formed, and in an uprising of Mexicans on the nineteenth of 
January, 1847, Governor Bent had been killed while on a visit 
to his family at Taos, seventy miles from Santa Fe. Colonel 
Price set out at once with 350 men and met the Mexicans at 
Canada, New Mexico. After a short skirmish the Mexicans 
were driven from their position. They left behind thirty-six 
dead on the field. Price’s loss was two killed and seven 
wounded. Price followed on. He was joined by Captain 
Burgwin with one company, which swelled his number to 
four hundred and eighty. The enemy had taken refuge in a 
pueblo near San Fernando de Taos. This place was inclosed 
with strong walls and pickets. In it were two pyramid¬ 
shaped buildings seven or eight stories high, and built of sun- 
dried brick. Their walls were thick and pierced for rifles. 
Here the Mexicans successfully defended themselves for two 
days. Price’s cannon could not make a breach in the stub¬ 
born walls of these buildings. He, therefore, ordered that 
they be stormed on all sides at once. The soldiers cut their 
way through the walls with axes, and then brought up their 
six-pound cannon, by which the “holes were widened into a 
practicable breach.” The buildings were carried without 
further resistance and the siege was ended, with 150 Mexi¬ 
cans killed out of six or seven hundred, and seven of the 
Missourians killed and forty-five wounded, many of whom 
died. Fifteen of the prisoners were hanged for treason. 

108. New Mexico Won.—Thus ended the revolt. But 
it began again in a few months. It had all the time been 
carried on by small bands of marauders, red and white, who 
robbed passing trading wagons. Soon came the report that 
a large hostile force was approaching from the south. Price 
called for additional troops. He was soon at the head of 
3,000, nearly all of whom were from Missouri. With this 


ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARDS AND KING. 


83 


number he found no difficulty in maintaining order and the 
position he had won. The people of New Mexico in a short 
time submitted to the situation, and the treaty of 1848 end¬ 
ing the Mexican War, gave sanction to what had been done 
by Kearney, Doniphan, and Price, and acknowledged that 
New Mexico had for some time been territory of the United 
States. 

109. Austin A. King.—In 1848 Austin A. King, of 
Ray county, was put forward by the Democrats for Governor, 
and James S. Rollins, of Boone, by the Whigs. The Demo¬ 
crats had steadily gained in 
numbers during the past 
four years, and although 
Rollins was one of the most 
popular and gifted men in 
the State, King was elected 
by 15,000 majority out of a 
total vote of 83,000. Thomas 
L. Price, a Benton Demo¬ 
crat of Cole county, was 
elected Lieutenant - Gov¬ 
ernor. King was born in 
Tennessee in 1801, a son of 
an old Revolutionary fami¬ 
ly. He received a good ed¬ 
ucation, became a learned 
lawyer, and came to Mis¬ 
souri, first settling in Boone county, and served one term 
in the Legislature from there. In 1837 he moved to Ray 
county and was appointed circuit judge, and served in that 
capacity till elected Governor. He was elected to Congress 
in 1862, and died in 1870. 

110. Fire in St. Louis.—A destructive fire occurred in 
May, 1849, among the boats at St. Louis. The steamer 



84 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


White Cloud took fire. Twenty-three other boats were soon 
in flames. The line of conflagration was a mile long. The 
fire spread to the city and whole blocks were burnt. All the 
buildings on Front street, from Locust to Market, were 
swept away. Three million dollars was the value of the 
property destroyed. 

111. The Iowa Line.—In 1849 the Supreme Court of 
the United States settled the long and sore contest between 
Iowa and Missouri as to which should own a strip of land 
twenty miles wide lying between the undisputed territory of 
each. The Missouri Constitution, which had been accepted 
by Congress in 1821, said that the northern boundary line 
should be the “parallel that passes through the rapids of the 
river Des Moines, making the said line correspond with the 
Indian boundary line.” Missouri claimed the northern 
border should be a parallel of latitude which passed through 
the rapids of the river Des Moines, and Iowa claimed it should 
be a parallel which passed through the Des Moines rapids in 
the Mississippi twenty miles further south. From 1837 the 
inhabitants of this strip had voted at Missouri elections. But 
in 1845 a Missouri sheriff, acting under the order of a Mis¬ 
souri court, had arrested some criminals on this strip, and was 
himself arrested and convicted by an Iowa Territorial court 
on the ground that he was exercising authority on Iowa ter¬ 
ritory. The contention at once took a serious face, and was 
made the subject of many fiery speeches in the campaigns 
for several years. Unfriendly and revengeful feelings began 
to grow between the people of Missouri and Iowa. The mat¬ 
ter was quietly and peaceably settled, however, by the United 
States Supreme Court, and thus the importance of having 
such a body to settle disputes between the States was shown. 

112. The Settlement.—The Indian border line was 
adopted as the proper dividing line between the two States. 
It ran almost in the middle of the twenty-mile strip. It had 


ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARDS AND KING. 


85 


been established in 1816, by John Sullivan, as the northern 
boundary of Missouri. Sullivan was a United States sur¬ 
veyor, appointed for 'the purpose of establishing this line. 
The mistake made in running it was one cause of the trouble, 
and that mistake has never been corrected and still remains. 
He began on a meridian one hundred miles north of Kansas 
City, and, instead of running due east, varied to the north, 
and at the river Des Moines had varied four miles in that 
direction. But the United States had by no less than sixteen 
treaties with the Indians recognized the line he ran as the 
border of Missouri. Missouri had so regarded it up to 1837, 
and the court now held that it should forever be the dividing 
line between the two States. By this decision Missouri lost 
a strip of land ten miles wide on the east and fourteen on the 
west; and Iowa lost the rest of the twenty-mile strip. This 
will explain why the border line between Missouri and Iowa 
does not run due east and west. 

Questions on Chapter VII. 

1. Give a sketch of the life of John C. Edwards. (99) 

2. How did the United States acquire the Floridas? (100) 

3. What part did Missourians take in settling Texas? (100) 

4. What is said of the Texas Rebellion? (100) 

5. And the efforts to make Texas a State? (100) 

6. How did the war begin? (100) 

7. What part did Missourians take in the Mexican War? (100) 

8. Describe Doniphan’s expedition. (101) 

9. Describe the capture of Santa Fe. (102) 

10. What else did Kearney do? (102) 

11. Who now came on the scene? (102) 

12. What did Doniphan do? (103) 

13. Describe the battle of Bracito. (103) 

14. Describe the capture of Chihuahua. (104) 

15. What pleasing incident is mentioned? (105) 

16. What were some of the results of the expedition? (106) 

17. What had been going on at Santa Fe? (107) 

18. Describe the capture of San Fernando de Taos. (107) 

19. How was New Mexico finally won? (108) 


86 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


20. What is said of Austin A. King? (109) 

21. What destructive fire is mentioned? (110) 

22. What is said of the contentions over the Iowa line? (Ill) 

23. How was the issue settled? (Ill) 

24. What line was fixed upon? (112) 

25. What did Missouri gain and lose by this decision? (112) 


CHAPTER VIII. 

BENTON AND THE JACKSON RESOLUTIONS. 

113. Contentions Over Slavery.—The slavery ques¬ 
tion again stirred the State. It grew out of the acquisition, 
by the nation, of California and New Mexico. All of the 
last and part of the first lay south of parallel thirty-six de¬ 
grees and thirty minutes, agreed upon by Congress as the 
line north of which slavery was not to exist. But African 
slavery had never existed in New Mexico. When, therefore, 
it became territory of the United States, the North contend¬ 
ed that slavery must not be introduced there. It was the 
desire of the South that it should. A large portion of the 
people of Missouri held that the proper way to settle the 
matter was for Congress not to interfere at all, but let the 
inhabitants of the Territory determine for themselves whether 
or not slavery should exist there. By way of giving expres¬ 
sion to this view a series of propositions known as the ‘‘Jack- 
son Resolutions” were passed by the Legislature in January, 
1849. They were so called because Claiborne F. Jackson of 
Howard county, afterwards Governor of the State, was chair¬ 
man of the committee which reported them to the Senate, 
though as originally introduced they were written by Judge 
William B. Napton, a member of the Supreme Court from 
the county of Saline. After they reached the Senate com¬ 
mittee they were recast by George W. Hough, a citizen of 
Jefferson City, “distinguished for soundness of judgment, 



BENTON AND THE JACKSON RESOLUTIONS. 


87 


accuracy of information and the strength of his convictions,” 
and as written by him were accepted by the committee and 
adopted by both houses of the General Assembly. 

114. The Jackson Resolutions.—The Jackson Res¬ 
olutions were passed by a vote of about twenty-four to seven 
in the Senate and sixty to twenty-two in the House, the 
Democrats generally voting for them and the Whigs against. 
The resolutions were six in number. Only the salient points 
of three or four of them need be here given. The first con¬ 
tended that the Constitution gave Congress no power to 
legislate on the subject of slavery; the fourth, that the right 
to prohibit slavery in any territory belongs exclusively to the 
people thereof; the fifth, that if Congress passed any act in 
conflict with these principles, Missouri will co-operate with 
“the slave-holding States for our mutual protection against 
the encroachments of Northern fanaticism.” The sixth, in¬ 
structed Messrs. Benton and Atchison, Missouri’s United 
States Senators, to act in conformity with these resolutions. 
Atchison did so, but Benton refused, and appealed to the 
people for endorsement. He claimed slavery was an “in¬ 
curable evil” and therefore it ought not to be extended. 

115. The Opposite View.—The claim was admitted 
by many of the men who voted for the resolutions, but they 
yet held that the people of the Territory ought to determine 
for themselves whether slavery should exist in their midst; 
that it was not a question whether slavery was right or 
wrong, but of non-interference by Congress. They said the 
people of the slave-holding States had a right, under the Con¬ 
stitution, which guaranteed freedom of commerce among the 
States, to go into any of the Territories they had helped to 
acquire, taking their slaves with them if they so desired, 
upon the same footing as that upon which the people of the 
North were permitted to move into the same Territory with¬ 
out slaves. It was by no means certain that all the Terri- 

29 


88 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


tones would desire to become slave States. Some would not. 
Mr. Benton had always been quietly opposed to slavery, but 
he could have accepted this view of non-interference without 
surrendering his convictions in regard to it. It was after¬ 
wards, in 1857, accepted by the Supreme Court of the United 
States as a reasonable view of the rights of a State under the 
Constitution. 

116. Benton’s Position.—But Mr. Benton was not a 
man of compromises. He welcomed friction, and gloried in 
the prospect of overcoming his enemies. He was possessed 
with superb courage, physical and moral, and an imperious 

will. He ignored and 
brushed aside the views 
of the supporters of the 
Jackson Resolutions. 
He had no conciliation 
to make. He had al¬ 
ways been ardently de¬ 
voted to the Union. 
In this ardor and his 
own imperious domina¬ 
tion, he mistook the 
views and purposes of 
those of his own party 
who differed from him. 
He had been a devoted 
follower of Andrew 
that man of iron in his 
endeavors to humiliate, break down, and punish Mr. Cal¬ 
houn, against whom Jackson had a deep personal grievance. 
Benton could see nothing in the Jackson Resolutions but a 
reiteration of Calhoun’s nullification doctrines. He thought 
they meant disunion and secession. Perhaps he was honest 
in this view. His ardor for the Union and his devotion to 



Thomas H. Benton. 


Jackson, and gave great support to 


BENTON AND THE JACKSON RESOLUTIONS. 


89 


Andrew Jackson and his dislikes for Calhoun perhaps led him 
to enlarge their import and grounded him in his belief. Yet 
the friends of the Resolutions did not so regard them. Many 
of those who strongly supported them were a few years later 
loyal supporters of the Union cause. Benton had given the 
Resolutions a meaning which few or none of those voting for 
them believed was the proper inference. He appealed to the 
people to stand to his interpretation. He made a tremen¬ 
dous struggle to be sustained, and spoke with incisive in¬ 
vective against his opponents in every part of the State. 
Strong men of the Democratic party opposed him. The 
Whigs took no part in the contest. 

117. Benton’s Downfall.—When the General Assem¬ 
bly met Benton was defeated, the opposing Democrats voting 
with the Whigs and thus electing Henry S. Geyer of St. 
Louis to the United States Senate. Mr. Benton had been 
the political leader and autocrat of the State for thirty years. 
But from this time on his power was broken. He represented 
St. Louis one term in Congress, from 1853-55, but was then 
defeated by Luther M. Kennett, a Know Nothing. In 1856 
he was a feeble candidate for Governor on his own personal 
strength as an independent, but was defeated. Had he not 
tried to make the Jackson Resolutions mean something 
which the great body of the people did not intend them to 
mean, he might have held his seat in the Senate till his death. 
After his defeat the Democratic party committed itself to 
non-interference by Congress in questions of slavery in new 
Territories, and there was political peace for a few years till 
the breaking out of fresh trouble in Kansas. 

Questions on Chapter VIII. 

1. What troublesome question again arose when California and 

New Mexico had been acquired? (113) 

2. What was the attitude of the North? (113) 

3. What was Missouri’s contention? (113) 


90 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


4. In what way did they give expression to their views? (113) 

5. Name the salient points of the Jackson Resolutions. (114) 

6. How did Benton and Atchison regard them? (114) 

7. What argument was made for the Resolutions? (115) 

8. What was Benton’s attitude? (116) 

9. What is said of the struggle? (116) 

10. What was the result? (117) 

11. What attitude did the Democratic party now assume? (117) 


CHAPTER IX. 

FROM 1852 TO 1860. 

118. The Election.—At the election of 1852 Sterling 
Price, of Chariton county, was put forward by the Demo¬ 
cratic party for Governor. The Whigs nominated James 
Winston, of Benton county, who was a grandson of the great 
Patrick Henry, and a man of many marked characteristics. 
Price was elected by a majority of nearly 14,000 votes. 
Wilson Brown, of Cape Girardeau, was elected Lieutenant- 
Governor. The new Governor was inaugurated the first 
Tuesday in January, 1853, and the Legislature for many 
weeks was stirred by animated discussions of the famous 
Jackson Resolutions which had been passed at a previous 
session. 

119. Sterling Price.—Sterling Price was born in Vir¬ 
ginia in 1809, educated at Hampden-Sidney college, and 
came to Missouri with his father in 1831, first settling at 
Fayette, and two years later at Keytesville, in Chariton 
county, where he engaged in merchandising for two years, 
and then settled on a large farm eight miles south of that 
town and engaged in farming till 1861. In 1840 he was 
elected to the Legislature and was chosen Speaker, and in 
1842 was re-elected to both positions. In 1844 he was elected 
to Congress. When the Mexican War broke out he resigned 



FROM 1852 TO 1860. 


91 


and was commissioned by President Polk to raise and com¬ 
mand a regiment, and before the war closed rose to the rank 
of Brigadier-General. In 1852 he was elected Governor as 
a Democrat, and made 
the State a faithful and 
wise chief magistrate. 

During his term he 
urged the Legislature 
to pass a law increas¬ 
ing the salary of the 
Governor, for the ben¬ 
efit of his successor. 

The Legislature pro¬ 
vided for the increase 
to begin at once; but 
as the Constitution 
said the Governor’s 
salary should not be 
increased or decreased 
while he was in office, 
he refused to accept 
the increase. In 1860 
he was elected to the convention which declared Missouri 
would not secede, and was made its chairman. After the 
capture of Camp Jackson by the Union troops, he accept¬ 
ed from Governor Jackson the appointment of Major-Gen¬ 
eral of the State troops, and in May, 1862, joined the Con¬ 
federacy and fought for it till it was vanquished. The bril¬ 
liant qualities which he exhibited in so many ways during 
the war so endeared him to the people of the South that, 
with the exception of Lee and Jackson, no man among all 
their cherished heroes is remembered with more ardent and 
sincere affection. After the war he returned to St. Louis and 
engaged in the business of a commission merchant, and died 
there in 1867. 



92 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


120. Internal Improvements.—In the meantime the 
State had, for the first time since its organization, committed 
itself to a liberal policy of internal improvements. As early 
as 1836 charters had been granted to private companies to 
construct better wagon roads. Commercial centers had 
sprung up far from the navigable rivers. Freighting to 
them had been done almost exclusively by ox-wagons. Plank 
or macadam roads were now constructed. This gradually 
called into use wagons and other vehicles drawn by horses. 
No State aid had been given to any of these improvements. 
But in 1849 the General Assembly—the same one which 
passed the Jackson Resolutions—found the State out of debt 
and her revenue largely increasing, and a popular demand for 
State aid to railroads. In February the construction of the 
Missouri Pacific railway from St. Louis to the western bor¬ 
der of the State was authorized. The survey was soon made, 
and construction began in July, 1850. Other railroads were 
then rapidly projected. 

121. The Doors Open.—The doors of the public treas¬ 
ury had been opened to the Missouri Pacific. Other roads 
claimed an equal right to favoritism. There was no stopping 
place now. In quick succession aid was given to the St. 
Louis & San Francisco (the '‘Frisco”), the Iron Mountain, 
the Wabash, the Hannibal & St. Joseph, and other railroads. 
In eight years these roads received from the State its bonds 
to the amount of twenty-three million dollars, which they 
were allowed to sell for cash, but the interest of which the 
roads agreed to pay. In this most of them failed, and hence 
the State had to pay the interest. This was the foundation 
of the great debt the State had to pay in after years. Be¬ 
sides this immense aid given by the State, the Union gave 
these roads about 1,800,000 acres of land. 

122. Railroad Construction.—The entire length of 
all railroads in the United States in 1850 was about 9,000 


FROM 1852 TO 1860. 


93 


miles. Missouri alone now has almost that amount of mile¬ 
age. No one can calculate the effect of these railroads in de¬ 
veloping the resources of the State, in changing the pursuits of 
the people, in multiplying their powers for producing things, 
in drawing them closer to the rest of the country and to the 
whole world, and in unifying them into a homogeneous 
whole. The first railroad of any considerable extent in the 
State was the Missouri Pacific. It was completed between 
St. Louis and Jefferson City by November 1, 1855. Eighty- 
five miles of the Iron Mountain had been built from St. Louis 
to Pilot Knob by 1858. In the same year the Hannibal and 
St. Joseph was completed between the two cities for which it 
was named. The Frisco was constructed from St. Louis as 
far as Rolla by 1861. The Wabash reached Warrenton by 
1855, Mexico in 1858, and in the next ten years was extended 
to Kansas City. These were the first railroads built, but 
within the next twenty years the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, 
the Chicago and Alton, and other great lines were built, but 
the building of branches to these main lines and of other 
trunk roads still goes on. 

123. Some Interesting Matters.—Friction matches, 
such as are now used in every household, did not come into 
use until about 1845. Prior to that time the people “cov¬ 
ered” the fire in their stoves or fireplaces, and if it failed to 
“keep” they went to their neighbors to “borrow some fire,” 
or started it anew by striking a small flint rock against a piece 
of steel and permitting the spark to communicate to punk, 
which was a fungus growth of easily inflammable tinder 
gathered from certain trees and kept dry for the purpose. 

Tomatoes began to be generally used as food about 1855. 
A very few persons had eaten them prior to that, but by most 
persons they were regarded as ornaments and called “love 
apples,” and were not considered fit to eat. 

Steel pens, such as are now in general use, began to be 
used about 1847. Prior to that goose quills or gold pens were 


94 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


used. A few sewing machines found their way into the State 
about the same time. 

124. The Election of Polk.—At the election in 1856 
the Democratic candidate for Governor was Trusten Polk of 
St. Louis. Robert C. Ewing was the American or Know 
Nothing candidate and Thomas H. Benton was an independ¬ 
ent candidate. Polk was elected. He received 47,000 votes, 
Ewing 40,500, and Benton 27,600. The election of United 
States Senator enlisted more than ordinary interest. Two 
years before the Legislature had balloted for days, trying to 
elect a successor to David R. Atchison. It had failed to do so 
and for two years Missouri had only one Senator, Henry S. 
Geyer. But in 1857 James S. Green was elected to serve till 
1861, and Trusten Polk to serve till 1863. Polk within a few 
months resigned as Governor, and Hancock Jackson, the 
Lieutenant-Governor, served till the special election in Au¬ 
gust, when Robert M. Stewart was chosen over James S. 
Rollins. 

125. Trusten Polk. — 

Trusten Polk was born in 
Delaware in 1811, graduated 
at Yale College in 1831, and 
came to Missouri in 1835, 
settling in St. Louis, where 
he took the highest rank as 
a lawyer and citizen. He 
was a man of the cleanest 
habits, of great candor and 
sincerity. In 1843 he was 
City Counselor of St. Louis 
and in 1856 was elected Gov¬ 
ernor, and within a few 
months to the United States 
Senate. He made a useful 
Senator, being very attentive to the interests of his constitu- 



Trusten Polk. 


FROM 1852 TO 1860. 


95 


ents. Early in the war he was expelled from the Senate 
by the Republican members on a charge of disloyalty. His 
public services after that were given to his church and to 
upbuilding the educational interests of the State. He died 
in St. Louis in 1876. 

126. Robert Stewart.—Robert Morris Stewart was 
born in New York in 1815, and received a good education. 
He taught school when he was seventeen and until he was 
twenty, moved to Kentucky, studied law, was admitted to 
the bar at Louisville, came to Missouri in 1839, in a few years 
settled in St. Joseph and practiced law. From 1846 to 1857, 
he was a member of the State Senate. In 1857, when Gov¬ 
ernor Polk resigned, he was elected as a Democrat and made 
an excellent officer. When the question of secession was sub¬ 
mitted to the people, he was elected a delegate to the conven¬ 
tion which was to finally decide the matter, as a Conditional 
Union man, but soon ardently 
and unconditionally supported 
the Union, but not as an Abo¬ 
litionist, for he was always op¬ 
posed to abolition, but as an 
opponent to secession and a 
steadfast adherent to the 
Union his fathers had estab¬ 
lished. His decided stand 
against secession, when so 
much seemed to depend on the 
action of Missouri, helped to 
save the State to the Union, 
and made his action one of 
national consideration. He 
was never married, was a man of free-and-easy habits, and 
died in 1871. 

127. Kansas Troubles.—Sectional contention would 
not cease. In 1854 it arose afresh when a bill passed Con- 



96 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


gress organizing Kansas into a Territory. The Missouri 
Compromise had been repealed by that bill. The Compro¬ 
mise was the first effort made by Congress to interfere with 
the local institutions or affairs of a State. It can not be 
wondered at, then, that all of Missouri’s representatives in 
Congress were in favor of its repeal. But other States saw 
the injustice of the discrimination made by that compromise 
against a part of the Union. The bill for the repeal passed 
overwhelmingly, and declared in favor of letting the inhab¬ 
itants of any new Territory determine for themselves whether 
or not they wished slavery therein. By this privilege the 
people of Kansas could decide for themselves in favor of slav¬ 
ery or against it. This was the same doctrine as the fourth 
of the Jackson Resolutions. (See Section 114.) 

128. A Contest Between North and South.—Both 
North and South wished to be triumphant in Kansas. The 
struggle is important as a part of the history of each, and 
especially of Missouri, because it was the last peaceful con¬ 
test for political supremacy by each before final appeal to 
arms, and on the part of the South Missouri was the chief 
representative, while Massachusetts was the most aggressive 
actor among the northern States. To gain a majority of the 
people of Kansas to declare against slavery. Emigration Aid 
Companies were organized in Massachusetts and throughout 
the North, which sent out men to Kansas to be ready to vote. 
These companies practically sent out men only. As many as 
223 men to five women were in one company. A United 
States marshal who searched this company found no agri¬ 
cultural implements, but many guns, revolvers and ammuni¬ 
tion. All the companies were not as this one, but there were 
few actual settlers. By such a course it became evident that 
Kansas would become a free State. 

129. Blue Lodges.—Counter aid societies were formed 
in Missouri. They were known as Blue Lodges. Their 


FROM 1852 TO 1860. 


97 


objects were the same as those of the Emigrant Aid Com¬ 
panies. Neither were right. But the Missourians thought 
themselves far less to blame for aiding in the formation of a 
new State adjoining their border and so far inhabited, in the 
main, by their own kinsmen than were people of a State a 
thousand miles away. Besides, the Blue Lodges were formed 
as a result of, and as a counter-balance to, the Emigrant Aid 
Companies. Just how many pretended settlers were sent 
out by either of these societies will never be known. Much 
illegal voting was done on both sides in the ensuing years, and 
a terrible guerrilla warfare was the result. 

130. Fraudulent Voting.—An election of the mem¬ 
bers of the Kansas Territorial Legislature which Congress had 
provided for was held in March, 1855. The pro-slavery 
party, or the “Missourians,” as it was called, was successful. 
In February previous a census showed an entire population 
of 8,601, and 2,905 voters, of whom a large majority were 
from slave States. There were 6,307 votes cast. The East¬ 
ern immigrants charged that 5,000 Missourians had crossed 
over into Kansas Territory and voted. The pro-slavery men 
charged that a company of Northern immigrants had ar¬ 
rived at Lawrence on the day of the election and voted not¬ 
withstanding such a short stay. Undoubtedly there was 
much illegal voting on both sides, and the evidence seems to 
be strong, though not conclusive, that the Missourians were 
the chief sinners. 

131. General Lawlessness.—The anti-slavery men re¬ 
fused to acknowledge the authority of this Territorial Legis¬ 
lature, or to be obedient to laws it passed. They disregarded 
its laws whenever they chose and resisted arrest whenever 
they were brought to account for so doing. Then began the 
active trouble. The grand jury made some indictments, and 
the sheriff attempted to arrest the offenders. They resisted, 
and the anti-slavery leaders, by speeches, through their pa- 


98 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


pers and in many ways, urged them to do so. The sheriff 
ordered by-standers to assist him in making the arrests. The 
offenders would then be joined by anti-slavery sympathizers. 
These contending factions soon learned to rob each other, 
burn each other’s houses and destroy other property. From 
these differences in Kansas sprang many kinds of lawless and 
political crimes, and finally a civil war between the rival fac¬ 
tions which did not end till the final establishment of the 
anti-slavery party in 1859. 

132. John Brown.—During these disturbances John 
Brown inaugurated a system of murder for opinion’s sake, 
and in the dead of night put to death five peaceable settlers 
whom he had never before seen, whose only crime was that 
they differed with him in regard to slavery. For this crime 
he went unpunished. Such a course soon brought into 
activity a set of robbers and marauders who were described 
as hawkers.” The counties in Missouri adjoining Kan¬ 
sas now began to suffer. Their inhabitants had much more 
property to lose than those of Kansas because they were 
older settlers. These marauders were not slow to learn this 
fact. They cared as little for Missouri law as for Kansas 
authority. They came into these counties and took what¬ 
ever they could. One of these raids was headed by John 
Brown, and was made in December, 1858. He took away 
eleven slaves. A slave owner was also killed whose only of¬ 
fense seems to have been an objection to the way in which 
he was dispossessed of his property. This raid was made 
soon after the Governors of the two States had attempted to 
bring about a reconciliation. There were other raids also, 
in which “peaceable and lawabiding citizens” were subjected 
to outrages, insults and lawless violence. The General As¬ 
sembly of Missouri appropriated thirty thousand dollars to 
be used by Governor Stewart as he thought best. Three 
thousand dollars were offered as a reward for John Brown. 
He nevertheless succeeded in conducting the negroes into 


FROM 1852 TO 1860. 


99 


Canada and then sold his stolen horses in Ohio. All his raids 
in Missouri were marked by blood. Yet he was received in 
many parts of the North, not as a monomaniac or a fugitive 
from justice, but as a popular hero. But the efforts put forth 
by the Legislature, the Governors of Missouri and Kansas, 
and the officers of the United States Army, partially quieted 
the troubles, and the guerrilla warfare ceased for two years. 

133. Montgomery’s Raid.—But in 1860 it began 
again. This time the Jayhawkers were led by the desperate 
James Montgomery. They broke up a United States court 
and compelled the judge and its officers to flee for their lives. 
They also killed a citizen of Missouri named Samuel Hindes. 
Their charge against him was that he was in search of run¬ 
away slaves. Congress had some time before this passed the 
Fugitive Slave Law, by which any slave owner was per¬ 
mitted to pursue a fugitive slave into a free State, recover 
him and return to his home. It was while Hindes was in 
search of a fugitive slave in Kansas that Montgomery estab¬ 
lished himself at Fort Scott, a town just over the Missouri 
border, whence he declared he intended to ^‘clean out south¬ 
ern Missouri of its slaves.” 

134. Excitement.—The people of Missouri became 
very much excited at these threats. Exaggerated reports 
were brought to Governor Stewart that Montgomery had 
begun to lay waste the country and that “citizens of Missouri 
on the Osage and in Bates and Vernon are flying from their 
homes into the interior.” Brigadier-General D. M. Frost was 
ordered to proceed to the border with enough men to end the 
difficulty. He reached it in November, 1860, with 650 troops, 
but found General Harney of the United States Army had 
preceded him. Montgomery, at the advance of these forces, 
disbanded his Jayhawkers and fled. Frost in his report to 
Governor Stewart said Hindes’s “only crime was that he had 
been faithful to the laws of his State.” He also says the 


100 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


“deserted and charred remains of once happy homes” were 
general. 

135. Jay hawking now ceased as such, but it did not 
actually cease. It did not cease during the first two or three 
years of the Civil War, nor indeed so long as there was left 
anything along the Missouri border for the “Jayhawkers” to 
steal or anybody to rob. But they now came with United 
States commissions in their pockets under “which guise they 
carried on a system of robbery and murder which left a 
good portion of the frontier of southwest Missouri an entire 
waste.” 

136. General Progress.—The progress in wealth and 
population from 1850 to 1860 was enormous, notwithstand¬ 
ing the predatory disturbances on the Kansas border. The 
population had increased from 682,000 to 1,182,000, a net 
increase of a half million, and an increase in percentage of 
seventy-three for the ten years. Of this number 115,000 
were slaves. Their increase had been 27,000, or thirty per 
cent. Of all the population 160,000, or one-seventh, were 
foreign-born in 1860. Of these 88,000 were Germans, and 
43,000 were Irish. The revolutions in Germany in 1849 had 
caused many of its inhabitants to seek safety in Missouri. 
This explains the large immigration of Germans during this 
decade. The failure of the potato crop in Ireland in 1846-47 
will also explain the large immigration from that country. 
These new immigrants turned their attention mostly to farm¬ 
ing, especially the Germans, and became useful and pros¬ 
perous citizens. Missouri had risen in these ten years from 
the rank of thirteenth to eighth in the number of her popula¬ 
tion and was now the first of the Southern States. 

137. Missouri’s Financial Prosperity was not behind 
the increase in population. The assessed value of her prop¬ 
erty had risen from one hundred and thirty-seven million 
dollars in 1850 to five hundred and one million in 1860, an 


FROM 1852 TO 1860. 


101 


increase of 2G5 per cent. The property consisted mostly in 
farms and agricultural wealth. The manufactured products 
were estimated at forty million dollars in 1860 and the capital 
invested in factories was twenty millions. But much wealth 
was made known during this decade. By a system of sur¬ 
veys it became known that one-fifth of the State is underlaid 
with workable beds of coal; that there are “more than a 
thousand valuable veins of lead and half as many of iron, 
besides many of zinc, copper, hydraulic lime-stone and other 
minerals. The new immigrants had also shown that much of 
the country south of the Osage river, heretofore regarded as 
worthless, was very valuable for grapes and other fruits.” 

Questions on Chapter IX. 

1. Who was elected Governor in 1852? (118) 

2. To what party did he belong? (118) 

3. Who was the Whig candidate? (118) 

4. From what great orator was he descended? (118) 

5. Give a sketch of the life of Sterling Price. (119) 

6. What is said of internal improvements? (120) 

7. What railroads were aided by the State? (121) 

8. How did the State aid them? (121) 

9. In what did the State’s debt of after years originate? (121) 

10. Tell about the construction of railroads. (122) 

11. What is said of matches, pens and tomatoes? (123) 

12. Can you mention some other useful things that have since come 

into general use? 

13. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1856? (124) 

14. Who was elected? (124) 

15. Why was a special election necessary? (124) 

16. Who was elected? (124) 

17. Who was acting Governor in the interim? (124) 

18. Give a sketch of the life of Trusten Polk. (125) 

19. Give a sketch of the life of Robert M. Stewart. (126) 

20. What was the occasion of new sectional trouble? (127) 

21. What was necessary before Kansas could decide to have slavery 

(127) Why? (58, 113) 

22. Between what was the contest in Kansas? (128) 

23. Describe the Emigration Societies. (128) 


102 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

24. What counter aid societies were formed in Missouri? (129) 

25. What have you to say of these organizations? (129) 

26. What was the result in Kansas? (129) 

27. What about the Kansas election in 1855? (130) 

28. Give some incidents of the general lawlessness that followed 

these fraudulent votings. (131) 

29. What is said of John Brown? (132) 

30. What other raids were there? (132) 

31. What action did Missouri take to stop them? (132) 

32. What was the result at pacification? (132) 

33. What is said of Montgomery’s raid? (133) 

34. What report reached the Governor? (134) 

35. What did Frost report that he found? (134) 

36. What is said of Missouri’s progress from 1850 to 1860? (136) 

37. How about her financial progress? (137) 


CHAPTER X. 

THE ELECTION OF 1860. 

138. The Situation.—The troubles in Kansas and the 
debates in Congress on the subject of slavery had given force 
to the formation of a new party wholly devoted to opposing 
the extension of slavery. It in time took the name of Repub¬ 
lican. In 1856 its candidate for the Presidency was John C. 
Fremont, a son-in-law of Thos. H. Benton. He received 114 
of the 296 electoral votes, and hence the new party had great 
hopes of success as the campaign of 1860 approached. Public 
feeling became deeply disturbed. The whole country was 
aflame with sectional animosities. The agitation for aboli¬ 
tion had stirred the people as nothing else had ever done. A 
large class of people in the North were determined to destroy 
slavery at any cost. Many people in the South felt that the 
only way to preserve their own peace and property was to 
quietly withdraw from the Union. Others believed it wisdom 
to remain in the Union and there settle their troubles. It 
seems strange now that any civilized people who had estab- 



THE ELECTION OF 1860. 


103 


lished and for seventy years lived under a republic of popular 
sovereignty, could have wished to perpetuate slavery. But 
there were mitigating circumstances. Slavery had originally 
existed in all the colonies. When it became unprofitable in 
the North the slaves were sold into the South where it was 
profitable. Many of the now slave-owners had inherited it 
from their fathers and not sought it. Slaves were valuable 
property. Men have, in every civilized country, been slow to 
give up valuable property without resistance. Besides, it 
was difficult to know what to do with the slaves if they were 
freed. Many persons feared the consequences if millions of 
ignorant people should be turned loose, penniless, among 
their old owners. Beyond this, it can be said in all truthful¬ 
ness that slavery had been a benefit to the slaves themselves. 
They had been taken from savage and barbarous races in 
Africa, and the discipline of slavery in America had taught 
them many of the habits of civilization. They had learned 
how to work, which always exalts a people; had learned the 
arts of peace and frugal honesty. But this discipline, this im¬ 
provement, made it less dangerous to trusi them with free¬ 
dom. It had prepared them more and more for its useful en¬ 
joyment when it should come. Besides, the principle of 
universal freedom had more and more become a part of 
American life, and one strong reason for the extinction of 
slavery was the desire of the slaves themselves to be free. 

139. The Fugitive Slave Law and Nullification.— 
The Fugitive Slave Law did much to intensify the conten¬ 
tions and troubles between the North and South. It had 
been passed by Congress a few years before and gave to each 
slave-owner the right to pursue a runaway slave into any 
State and retake him without any verdict from a court de¬ 
claring who was the rightful owner. All the claimant had to 
do was to exhibit to a sheriff a certificate from a county clerk 
describing the slave. The officer was then required to put 

*30 


104 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


the slave into his peaceable possession. This law the United 
States Supreme Court said did not violate the Constitution. 
The decision gave great offense to the North. At least four¬ 
teen Northern States by their Legislatures soon passed laws 
nullifying the Fugitive Slave Law by making it a crime for 
any sheriff to obey it, and by forbidding any state officer to 
aid in enforcing it. Their course made it impossible to en¬ 
force this law of Congress. The Southern States then argued 
that if fourteen Northern States could thus nullify a law of 
the Union they could withdraw from that Union. In the 
Presidential campaign of 1860 the Breckenridge party in the 
South declared if the Republican party were successful at the 
polls the Southern States would withdraw from the Union. 
When it did succeed they proceeded at once to carry out that 
threat. 

140. The Election. —The Democratic party in 1860 
divided into two factions. One part, known as the State- 
rights men, nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky for 
President. The other part, which was opposed to secession 
and to the interfe^fence by the national'Government with the 
local affairs and institutions of any State, nominated Stephen 
A. Douglas of Illinois. The remnant of the old Whig and 
Know Nothing parties, now known as Constitution-Union 
men, nominated John Bell of Tennessee for President and 
Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President. The 
Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. The contest in 
Missouri was warm and intense, but not violent. The State 
was carried by Mr. Douglas, which was the only State, except 
New Jersey, that gave him its electoral vote. Mr. Lincoln 
was elected. The number of votes for Douglas in Missouri 
was 58,801, for Bell 58,372, for Breckenridge 31,317, for 
Lincoln 17,028. Nearly all those voting for Lincoln were 
Germans. Of those who voted for Breckenridge, not half 
were in favor of secession. Many of them had come from 
the South, and in the intense excitement of the time their 


THE ELECTION OF 1860. 


105 


sympathies naturally enlisted them with the Southern Rights 
men who carried every Southern State. Besides, most of 
them, perhaps all, opposed the interference by Congress with 
a right which they claimed belonged alone to each individual 
State—to decide for itself whether or not it would abolish 
or continue slavery. But they did not wish to carry this 
opposition to the extreme of secession. 

141. The State Ticket. —On the State ticket the 
Democrats did not divide. Their candidate was Claiborne 
F. Jackson of Saline county, who was a Douglas Democrat 
and who received 74,446 votes. Sample Orr, an “American” 
or “Know Nothing,” received 64,583 votes. The Brecken- 
ridge candidate was Hancock Jackson, who received 11,415 
votes. James Gardenhire was the Republican candidate; he 
received only 6,135 votes. Claiborne F. Jackson was elected. 

Questions on Chapter X. 

1. What was now being formed? (138) 

2. What is said of public feeling? (138) 

3. What was the attitude of many people in the North toward slav¬ 

ery? (138) 

4. How did the Southern people feel about it? (138) 

5. What is said about the existence of slavery? (138) 

6. What is said about its benefits to the slaves? (138) 

7. What reasons for the extinction of slavery? (J.38) 

8. What is said of the Fugitive Slave Law? (139) 

9. How had the North nullified it? (139) 

10. What did the South argue from this? (139) 

11. How did the Democratic party divide in 1860? (140) 

12. Who were the four candidates for President and of what par¬ 

ties? (140) 

13. Approximate the vote of each in Missouri. (140) 

14. How about the State ticket? (141) 


106 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 

142. Confronted With Secession.—On December 20, 
1860, South Carolina, through her Legislature, declared she 
no longer owed any allegiance to the Union. Within six 
weeks Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and 
Texas—seven States—seceded. As Missouri was at this time 
the first in population of the slave-holding States, and as 
most of her people were of Southern origin, it may be seen at 
once that she was now confronted with the gravest problem 
she had ever had to settle. 

143. The Governors.—Robert M. Stewart, the retir¬ 
ing Governor, had been reared in New York and his feelings 
naturally inclined him with the North. He sincerely desired 
to keep Missouri in the Union. But he was opposed to forc¬ 
ing South Carolina and the other seceded States back into 
the Union, and if the Union should undertake to do this he 
was opposed to Missouri helping in the undertaking. He 
was also opposed to troops coming into Missouri either to 
wrest her from the Union or keep her in it. He stated the 
proper position for Missouri to assume and adhere to was 
“armed neutrality.” There can be no doubt, as subsequent 
events under more exasperating tests showed, that at this 
time the great majority of the people of Missouri were of the 
same opinion as Governor Stewart. They did not wish the 
State to secede or to take any part in forcing the seceded States 
back into the Union. The votes given the various candi¬ 
dates in November showed this and the election in February 
made it still clearer. 

144. Governor Jackson.—Governor Jackson, unlike 
Governor Stewart, had been reared in the South, and many 


THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 


107 


social and political ties bound him to her people. In his in¬ 
augural address he declared that all Missouri wished was ‘‘to 
be let alone.” He believed the Northern States had, by pass¬ 
ing laws which nullified the Fugitive Slave Law, themselves 
practically abandoned the Union. He believed if arms were 
employed by the Federal Government to force a State back 
into the Union that it would be such an insult as all the 
States ought to resent, and in that event the true position for 
Missouri would be to secede and unite with the South. It 
can not be denied that Governor Jackson was at this time 
in favor of Missouri’s seceding if the Federal Government 
should make war on the seceded States to force them back 
into the Union, but until that was done he was not in favor 
of secession. But this po¬ 
sition he afterward aban¬ 
doned, when the seceded 
States attempted to capture 
the Government forts and 
arsenals within their re¬ 
spective borders. He then 
took the position at first de¬ 
clared by Stewart that the 
proper course for Missouri 
was to preserve an “armed 
neutrality,” and keep out 
of the State all “maraud¬ 
ers, come from what quar¬ 
ter they may,” but to take 
no part herself in the conflict between the States. 

145. The Legislature.—T h e Lieutenant - Governor, 
whose duty it is to preside over the Senate, was Thomas C. 
Reynolds. From the outset he was in favor of secession, 
because he believed it impossible for Missouri to preserve an 
“armed neutrality” in the impending conflict, which he saw 
was inevitable. He accordingly urged the General Assembly 







108 


[history of MISSOURI. 


to declare Missouri determined to resist all attempts by the 
Federal Government to force the seceded States back into 
the Union or to collect the Government revenue in those 
States. He also urged that to make her able to resist coer¬ 
cion she must organize and enlarge her military forces. He 
appointed all the committees of the Senate in accordance with 
his views, and placed men on these committees who would 
endeavor to shape legislation in keeping therewith. Bills 
were immediately introduced in both houses to arm and 
equip the State militia and to provide for a State convention 
to consider what position Missouri should take in regard to 
secession. These bills were received with prompt and almost 
unanimous approval in the General Assembly. 

146. The Convention Authorized.—The bill creating 
the convention passed the General Assembly and became 
a law on January 18. In the Senate there were only two 
votes against it. In the House there were 18 against and 
105 for it. The duties and powers thus committed to this 
convention were contained in the words creating it, which 
said it was “to consider the relations between the United 
States . . . and the State of Missouri; and to adopt such 
measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the State and 
the protection of its institutions as shall appear to them to 
be demanded.” The law also provided if such convention 
should finally pass a secession ordinance that it should never 
be valid until submitted to the people and adopted by a ma¬ 
jority of the qualified voters of the State. These words 
creating this convention are important, for it is to be ob¬ 
served that whatever might have been the individual wishes 
of the members of this General Assembly for secession, yet 
they voluntarily transferred to other hands whatever power 
they had to take her out of the Union, and besides deter¬ 
mined that this must be done, if done at all, by the people 
themselves. 


THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 


109 


147. The People .—The election of delegates to this 
convention was to take place on February 18, just one month 
after the bill creating it became a law. A thorough canvass 
was at once begun throughout the State and carried forward 
with great interest till the end. The people divided into 
three parties, namely. Secessionists, Conditional Union men 
and Unconditional Union men. The leaders of the Seces¬ 
sionists were Governor Jackson, Lieutenant-Governor Rey¬ 
nolds, both United States Senators (James S. Green and 
Trusten Polk), General D. R. Atchison (formerly United 
States Senator) and Thos. L. Snead (editor of the St. Louis 
Bulletin). They did not desire the disruption of the Union, 
and deplored the haste of South Carolina and the other States 
in leaving it. Butbelieving that all the seceded States would 
remain out of the Union and form a separate confederacy, 
they considered it the true duty of all the slave-holding 
States to unite together; believing also, that if a separate con¬ 
federacy were formed, there would be war between it and the 
Union, they felt they were bound by the strongest kindred 
ties to stand by the South. They were not especially devoted 
to slavery. In fact slavery was no longer the most promi¬ 
nent question in these discussions. It was from this time on 
put far in the background. The issue rose transcendently 
above this. “They were secessionists only because they be¬ 
lieved the Union had been dissolved, that its reconstruction 
was impossible, that war was inevitable, and that in war 
the place for Missouri was by the side of the Southern States 
of which she was one.” 

148. The Conditional Union Men.—The Condition¬ 
al Union men were the most formidable opponents of the 
Secessionists. They were led by Judge Hamilton R. Gamble 
of St. Louis, Colonel A. W. Doniphan of Clay, Congressman 
James S. Rollins of Boone, Congressman John B. Clark of 
Howard, Ex-Governor Sterling Price of Chariton, Ex-Gov¬ 
ernor R. M. Stewart of St. Joseph, Judge William A. Hall 


110 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


of Randolph, Congressman John S. Phelps of Greene, and 
Judge John F. Ryland of Lafayette, ably assisted by the Mis¬ 
souri Republican, then the ablest paper west of the Missis¬ 
sippi, and edited by the great Nathaniel Paschall, “a man of 
mature age, strong intellect and consummate common sense.” 
These leaders were the ablest, most popular, and most promi¬ 
nent men in the State, and it is doubtful if any State in the 
Union could have shown at that time a finer array of many- 
sided great men. Their astuteness, popularity and well- 
known patriotism, added to the fact that many of them were 
themselves large slave-owners, at once began to divide the 
Secessionists. They were for the Union, provided the Fed¬ 
eral Government would not attempt to force the seceded 
States back and coerce them into submission. They declared 
themselves ready to resist coercion. But they did not fear it. 
They pleaded with patriotic pride for the preservation of the 
Union of their fathers, which had been bought with blood, 
and which had brought a thousand blessings to one curse; 
they urged the people that they must not allow their feelings 
to control them, but must remember that the steps they took 
might involve their children and their children’s children in 
untold misery. 

149. The Unconditional Union Men.—The Uncon¬ 
ditional Union men were for the Union come what might. 
They believed the seceded States should be coerced into sub¬ 
mission. The impersonation of this movement was Frank 
Blair. He saw that the only outcome of the trouble was war, 
that it must come in the near future and he was determined 
to hold Missouri for the Union. Blair contended that what 
was wanted in the convention were "men who were now and 
who would hereafter, under all circumstances, and in every 
emergency, be for the Union;” that he himself intended to 
stand by it to the last and to oppose in every way the seces¬ 
sion of Missouri. At first his chief following was among the 
Germans, who had no kindred in the South, who had bought 


THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 


Ill 


their lands from the Federal Government, who had enjoyed 
uninterrupted peace under it, and who felt that they should 
stand by it. But soon he had some able seconds. They were 
Samuel T. Glover, James O. Broadhead, B. Grat^ Brown, 
and Edward Bates, all of St. Louis. 

150. Missouri Declares for the Union.—The elec¬ 
tion of ninety-nine delegates to this Convention took place on 
February 18, and resulted in an overwhelming victory for 
the Union cause. Not a single avowed Secessionist was 
elected. The Union candidates received a total majority of 
eighty thousand, and the entire vote for them was almost 
three-fourths of all the ballots cast. It was a great disap¬ 
pointment to the General Assembly, whose members had 
confidently looked for an overwhelming victory for secession. 
It put a stop to any preparations by it for war, and for two 
months the discussions were mild, and submissive to the pop¬ 
ular will. On the other hand, the triumph of the Union men 
emboldened the Convention, after a session or two, to take 
the extremest action. 

Questions on Chapter XI. 

1. What was now the situation? (142) 

2. State fully the attitude of Governor Stewart. (143) 

3. What was the attitude of the people? (143) 

4. What was Governor Jackson’s position? (144) 

5. Did he afterwards abandon this position? (144) 

6. What position did he then take? (144) 

7. How did Reynolds try to lead the Legislature? (145) 

8. What two bills were passed? (145) 

9. What powers did the Legislature delegate to the Convention? 

(146) 

10. Who alone did the Legislature consider had a right to take Mis¬ 

souri out of the Union? (146) 

11. Who were the leaders of the Secessionists? (147) 

12. What is said of their attitude? (147) 

13. Who were the leaders of the Conditional Union men? (148) 

14. What is said of them? (148) 


112 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


15. What was their position? (148) 

16. What was the position of the Unconditional Union men? (149) 

17. Who was their great leader? (149) 

18. What was the result of the election? (150) 

19. How was it regarded by the General Assembly? (150) 

20. How did it affect the convention? (150) 


CHAPTER XII. 

THE CONVENTION. 

151. The Convention Meets.—The,convention, whose 
members had been elected on the eighteenth of February, 
the very day on which Jefferson Davis had been inaugurated 
President of the Confederacy, met at Jefferson City on the 
last of the month. Ex-Governor Sterling Price was elected 
President. He was an avowed Union man. The fifteen 
State-rights men voted for Nathaniel W. Watkins, a half- 
brother of Henry Clay. Soon after organization the con¬ 
vention adjourned to meet in St. Louis on March 4, the day 
Lincoln became President. Its members were the ablest men 
in the State, now met at the time of the greatest crisis in 
its history, “to consider its relations to the Government of the 
United States.” Of the ninety-nine members fifty-three were 
natives of either Virginia or Kentucky, three were Germans 
and one an Irishman. Thirteen were from the North. Mr. 
Gamble, who had been Supreme Judge of the State, Willard 
P. Hall, the vice-president, Robert Wilson, of great ability, 
James O. Broadhead, one of her ablest and most scholarly 
lawyers, and John B. Henderson, always a steadfast oppo¬ 
nent of secession, were Virginians. 

152. Against Secession and War.—The Committee 
on Federal Relations, through its chairman, Hamilton R. 
Gamble of St. Louis, on the ninth of March made a report 
declaring that secession by Missouri was “certainly not de- 



THE CONVENTION. 


113 


manded.” A part of the report said that “the true position 
for Missouri to assume is that of a State whose interests are 
bound up in the maintenance of the Union, and whose kind 
feelings and strong sympathies are with the people of the 
Southern States, with whom we are connected by the ties of 
friendship and blood.” The resolutions were adopted by 
almost a unanimous vote, the opposition to each being only 
five or six votes. Thus was secession finally defeated. 

153. The Moss Resolution.—The Convention also de¬ 
clared the employment of military force to coerce the seceded 
States back into the Union would plunge the country into 
war, and therefore “earnestly entreated” the Federal Govern¬ 
ment and the seceded States “to withhold and stay the arm 
of military power and upon no pretext whatever to bring 
upon the nation the horrors of civil war.” But a difference of 
opinion manifested itself in the convention when the question 
was raised. What would Missouri do if the President should 
call on her to furnish troops to coerce the seceded States? 
They were opposed to coercion, but what would Missouri 
do if she were going to remain in the Union, if Congress and 
the President determined to undertake coercion and should 
call on her for troops for the purpose? Mr. James H. Moss, 
a delegate of ability from Clay county, said he would not vote 
for secession under any circumstances, and introduced a reso¬ 
lution asking the convention to declare that Missouri would 
“never furnish men or money for the purpose of aiding the 
Federal Government in any attempts to coerce a seceding 
State.” He supported the resolution warmly, and passion¬ 
ately pleaded with the convention to pass it. He declared 
“Missouri would never, never furnish a regiment to invade a 
seceded State.”, William A. Hall, of Randolph, who had been 
a circuit judge for sixteen years, replied to Mr. Moss, in 
argument that could not be gainsaid, that “if Missouri 
remained in the union it would be her duty to furnish both 
men and money to the Federal Government when properly 


114 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


called upon for them, whether to coerce a State into submission 
or for any other purpose.” John B. Henderson, of Pike, 
declared '‘the President has no more power to use force than 
you or I,” and that no man could believe the “President will 
so far disregard his duties under the Constitution, or forget 
the obligations of his oath, as to undertake the subjugation of 
the Southern States by force.” James O. Broadhead did not 
believe the Federal Government had a right to coerce a State. 
Nearly all the delegates spoke against coercion, yet the Moss 
resolution failed, some voting against it because it was useless, 
a greater number honestly accepting Judge Hall’s logic. By 
“the pitiless logic of facts” when the war did come on Hen¬ 
derson was one of the most ardent supporters of Lincoln in 
the use of force; and Broadhead concurred with Lyon in mak¬ 
ing the attack on Camp Jackson and otherwise aided in the 
efforts to coerce Governor Jackson and the Legislature into 
submission. 

154. Adjourned.—The Convention, after it passed 
these resolutions, brought its labors to a close and adjourned 
on March 22, subject to the call of the executive committee. 
By this last arrangement it provided a way for self-perpetua¬ 
tion till secession became utterly impossible, as we shall here¬ 
after see. On the twenty-eighth of the same month the Legis¬ 
lature adjourned without having made any arrangements for 
the war, or for raising and supporting a militia for the pro¬ 
tection of the State. In fafct it may be said, in all truthful¬ 
ness, that the vast majority of the people did not want war, 
nor did their desires go to the extent of even those of Gov¬ 
ernor Stewart, who counseled “armed neutrality.” 

155. More Light.—The election of United States Sen¬ 
ator this year throws some light on the position the Gen¬ 
eral Assembly regarded the State as holding towards seces¬ 
sion. Early in the session, when it became apparent that a 
convention would be held to consider the question of seces- 


THE CONVENTION. 


115 


sion, the Legislature had determined not to elect a successor 
to James S. Green, whose term would expire on March 3, till 
after it was learned whether the people preferred secession 
or the Union. When they voted for the Union, the Legisla¬ 
ture proceeded to elect a Senator on March 12. Mr. Green 
had been one of the most popular men in the State, but he was 
an avowed secessionist. His election was, therefore, impossi¬ 
ble, although on one ballot he got 76 out of the 156 votes cast. 
Waldo P. Johnson, of Osceola, St. Clair county, was elected 
on the fifteenth ballot. As indicating the part taken in the 
war by those most prominent in bringing it on, it is proper 
here to remark that James S. Green, who was set aside for 
being a secessionist, ‘‘did not raise his hand or his voice for 
the South during the war, while Johnson, who had been 
elected because he was a good Union man, quickly resigned 
his seat in the Senate, entered the army and fought for the 
Confederacy till the end of the war.” 

Questions on Chapter XII. 

1. Who was elected president of the convention? (151) 

2. When did it meet in St. Louis? (151) 

3. What is said of its members? (151) 

4. What about their nativity? (151) 

5. Name some of them. (151) 

6. What report did the committee on Federal Relations decide on? 

(152)^ 

7. Was this report adopted? (152) 

8. What was the Moss resolution? (153) 

9. What did Mr. Moss say in regard to it? (153) 

10. How did Hall answer him? (153) 

11. What did John B. Henderson say? (153) 

12. What was Broadhead’s belief? (153) 

13. What is said of “the pitiless logic of facts?” (153) 

14. How did the convention arrange to perpetuate itself? (154) 

15. What was the attitude of the people? (154) 

16. What is said of the election of U. S. Senator this year? (155) 

17. And what of the after conduct of Green and Johnson? (155) 


116 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 

156. The Government Arsenal.—There was a Gov¬ 
ernment arsenal in St. Louis, well stored with forty thousand 
or more stand of arms and other valuable munitions of war. 
This arsenal now became the center of all warlike intentions. 
Both sides wanted it, in the event that there was to be war. 
Governor Jackson had all along believed the war to be inev¬ 
itable, and if it came he believed Missouri would be the 
natural ally of the South, and he determined to put her on 
that side if he could. He did not declare this purpose pub¬ 
licly, but he instructed General Frost, who had gone into 
camp just at the edge of St. Louis after his return from the 
Kansas troubles, with about 700 men, to keep himself well 
informed of all movements, and, if he deemed it necessary, to 
seize the arsenal and hold it for future disposal. General 
Frost in furtherance of this plan waited upon its commander, 
Major Bell, who frankly told him that he thought the State 
had a right to claim the arsenal as being on her soil and that 
he would not defend it against the proper State authorities. 
But before Frost could thus peaceably take possession of the 
arsenal, it was supplied with additional troops. Major Bell 
was relieved of command, and Major Hagner put in his place, 
and by the eighteenth of February, the day on which the 
State voted not to secede, there were four or five hundred sol¬ 
diers behind the walls, able to repulse almost any attack 
which might be made on it, and on the next day General 
Harney notified the President that there was no danger of an 
attack and never had been. In this condition of things each 
side would have gone on without any disturbance from the 
other, had there not appeared on the scene a man who was 
ready and anxious for war. This man was Captain Nathaniel 
Lyon. 


THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 


117 


157. Captain Lyon was born at Ashford, Connecticut, 
educated at West Point and was an officer of the regular 
army. He was at this time forty-three years old and is de¬ 
scribed as having been “of less than medium height; slender 
and angular; with abundant hair of a sandy color, and a 
coarse, reddish-brown beard. He had deep-set blue eyes, and 
features that were rough and homely.” His disposition made 
him fretful and impatient under restraint. He could see only 
one side of a question, but he saw that with terrible earnest¬ 
ness, and with no patience with any person who saw the other 
side. All persons who did not agree with him he regarded 
as being influenced by unworthy or improper motives. He 
was devoted to the Union and always eager to crush those 
who were not. Upon his arrival at St. Louis he at once set to 
work to make himself department commander, and never 
ceased until he had been given almost unlimited power to do 
as he pleased. His chief helper was Frank Blair, who at all 
times pushed him forward. Yet 
he was restive, and this led 
him to fear that Mr. Lincoln 
“lacked the resolution to grap¬ 
ple with treason and to put it 
down forever.” He thought the 
best thing to do with a con¬ 
servative man like Major Hag- 
ner was to “pitch him in the 
river.” He had been in Kan¬ 
sas through all its border 
troubles between the Free-soil 
and the Pro-slavery men. He 
had formed the greatest dis¬ 
like for the latter and in the 
troubles between the two fac¬ 
tions said he foresaw “sectional strife, which I do not care to 
delay.” He came to St. Louis possessed with this idea and 



118 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


feeling, and at once went to drilling the “Wide Awakes” 
and other volunteer soldiers and those quartered within the 
arsenal. In this he showed the greatest diligence and skill. 
He inspired all Union partisans with his own courage and zeal. 
By the middle of April, four regiments had been enlisted, 
and he proceeded to arm them with guns from the arsenal. 
With this well-trained force he and Blair felt strong enough 
to attack Governor Jackson and his followers, and they lost 
no time in finding a pretext for so doing. 

158. A Call for Troops.—Fort Sumter surrender to 
a Confederate army on April 13, 1861. On the same day 
President Lincoln issued a proclamation “for seventy-five 
thousand men to suppress combinations too powerful to be 
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings,” 
and on the same day the Secretary of War telegraphed Gover¬ 
nor Jackson his requisition for four regiments of infantry. 
On the sixteenth the Governor replied: “Not one man will 
the State of Missouri furnish to carry on an unholy crusade 
upon the seceded States.” The people of Missouri indorsed 
the Governor’s reply, but to Blair and Lyon it was reason 
enough to make an attack upon Frost. Besides, this reply 
was supplemented by frequent reports that guns and am¬ 
munition, obtained from the Government arsenal in Louisiana, 
had been secretly brought up the river and conveyed to Camp 
Jackson, where Frost’s little command was now encamped. 

159. Liberty Arsenal.—There was another Govern¬ 
ment arsenal about four miles south of Liberty in Clay 
county. It was in charge of Major Nathaniel Grant and two 
other men, and contained about 11,000 pounds of powder, 
about 1,500 guns and twenty or thirty small cannon. On the 
twentieth of April, just six days after President Lincoln’s call 
for troops, 200 men under the command of Colonel H. L. 
Routt, most of them from Clay and Jackson counties, quietly 
took possession of this arsenal, with no interruption except 


THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 


119 


the protests and railings of Grant, at whom they only 
laughed. Within the next few days they carried away most 
of the guns and powder. These were never retakpn, but were 
used in after years in the service of the Confederacy. The 
captors, however, seemed to have had no other purpose than 
to supply themselves with arms and ammunition for what¬ 
ever troubles might arise. But the capture of this arsenal 
and the reports about Camp Jackson determined Lyon on 
making the attack upon that camp. 

160. Harney and Lyon.—The time was now oppor¬ 
tune to make the attack. General Harney, who was in 
charge of the department, and to whom therefore Lyon and 
Blair were inferior officers, had been summoned to Washing¬ 
ton to answer for his official conduct on the complaint of 
Blair. This complaint was founded on a conflict between 
Lyon’s troops and the St. Louis police. Lyon had been 
patrolling the streets in front of the arsenal with his troops. 
This was in violation of the city laws and an interference 
with the duties of the Board of Police Commissioners. The 
Board complained to Lyon and demanded that he should 
obey the laws. Lyon refused. The Board was powerless to 
enforce their complaints in the face of his well-armed troops, 
and appealed to General Harney, his superior officer. He 
ordered Lyon to withdraw his patrols into the limits of the 
arsenal and not to issue arms to anyone except by his* sanc¬ 
tion. This led Blair to charge Harney to the Secretary of 
War as having controverted his orders, and in consequence 
Harney was summoned to Washington to defend himself. 
Harney, who was opposed to any aggressive attacks, was 
now out of the way and Lyon was left in full comand. 

161. Lyon and Camp Jackson.—General Lyon, dis¬ 
guised as an old woman, on the ninth of May, the next day 
after the arms and ammunition had been received at Camp 
Jackson from Louisiana, drove through the camp, and satis- 

31 


120 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


lied himself that the men had in their possession guns and 
ammunition which had been taken from the captured United 
States arsenal at Baton Rouge and which rightfully belonged, 
in his opinion, to the Federal Government. These were 
easily to be seen, for Frost had required them to be stacked 
outside at the entrance to the regular camp. Lyon returned 
and reported that the camp was “a nest of traitors.” This 
was Thursday the ninth. Harney would return on Sunday. 
He and Blair determined on an attack forthwith, and that it 
should be made next day. On the next morning General 
Frost, who had for two days been receiving reports that Lyon 
would make an attack on his camp, addressed him a letter in 
which he denied that he or any part of his command was 
actuated by any hostile intentions to the Federal Govern¬ 
ment and closed by adding: ‘T trust after this explicit state¬ 
ment we may be able, by fully understanding each other, to 
keep far from our borders the misfortunes which unhappily 
afflict our common country.” But Lyon refused to receive 
the letter and sent it back. His troops were already forming 
for the march to the camp, which he declared was made up 
mostly of secessionists, who were plotting to overthrow the 
Government’s authority. 

162. The Attack.—He surrounded the camp with his 
well-disciplined soldiers, and sent a demand to Frost for his 
immediate and unconditional surrender. As his force num¬ 
bered 7,000 men and more, and Frost’s 700, the latter at once 
did so. The captured soldiers stacked their arms and were 
arranged in a line along Olive street, which was occupied by 
Lyon’s troops, there halted and kept standing over an hour. 
Great numbers of men, women and children from the city 
gathered around the troops and prisoners, and at times at¬ 
tacked the troops with stones, and called them, in derision, 
“Dutch Blackguards,” because one of the German companies 
called itself Die Schwartze Garde (the Black Guard). 


THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 


121 


The soldiers resented this by firing into the crowd, first with a 
few shots, which were almost immediately “followed by 
volley after volley.” When the firing ceased twenty-eight 
persons lay dead or mortally wounded, among them three of 
the prisoners who had only a little while before surrendered, 
and an infant in the arms of its mother, and one of Lyon’s 
soldiers. The march was at once resumed to the arsenal and 
the next day the prisoners were released on their own parole 
not to bear arms against the Government while the Civil War 
should last. 

163. A Blunder.—The attack upon Camp Jackson 
proved to be a blunder. It was intended to crush out all 
spirit of secession in the State and completely disarm and 
crush the influence of those who wished it to secede. This 
number was small. It will be remembered that the question 
of secession had been submitted to the people on the eight¬ 
eenth of February and had been declared against by a ma¬ 
jority of eighty thousand votes. Since that time instead of 
gaining the secession sentiment had waned. Even the doc¬ 
trine of the numerous Conditional Union men, that Missouri 
would secede only when the Federal Government should at¬ 
tempt to coerce and force the seceded States back into the 
Union, had been abandoned, and most of those who had 
prior to February 18 held to this view, had prepared to 
quietly submit to this attempted coercion. With the excep¬ 
tion of Governor Jackson and a handful of his enthusiastic 
followers, the vast majority of the people preferred that 
Missouri should remain in the Union and take no part in the 
Civil War, now already begun in other States. But now 
everything was changed. In the twinkling of an eye a thrill 
of horror ran through the State at the needless killing of pri¬ 
vate citizens and surrendered prisoners by a foreign-born 
soldiery led by an unrelenting captain from another State, 
whose course seemed to receive the entire sanction of Presi- 


122 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


dent Lincoln. The news was telegraphed to Jefferson City 
where the Legislature had been in special session since May 2. 
At that very time it happened the Military Bill, designed for 
the organization of the State Militia for any emergency that 
might arise, was being considered and had been under con¬ 
sideration for several days. It was being successfully op¬ 
posed, because it was believed the people had pronounced 
against any military preparations, and for the further reason 
that it was feared the Governor might use the militia in aid of 
secession. The bill for these reasons could never have been 
passed had not the Camp Jackson affair occurred. But with¬ 
in fifteen minutes after the news had been received at the 
Capitol that the United States forces had attacked the State 
forces the Military Bill had been rushed through both houses 
of the General Assembly, and was ready for the Governor’s 
signature. That was an indication of the rapid change in the 
feelings of the people. Within five days the Legislature 
passed laws authorizing the expenditure of over two million 
dollars “to repel invasion and put down rebellion,” as it said. 
Fortunately the Legislature had sometime before referred to 
the convention and to the people the question of secession; 
if this had not been done, the Legislature would now with 
equal precipitation have passed a secession ordinance. 

164. Preparations for War.—Preparations for the war 
by both sides now went on apace. Hundreds of men who 
up to this time remained loyal to the Union, felt themselves 
driven into the secession movement by the unfortunate affair 
at Camp Jackson. Among those who identified themselves 
with this movement was Sterling Price, who had been Gover¬ 
nor of the State from 1853 to 1857, and who had reflected 
great glory upon Missouri in the Mexican War. He now 
offered his sword to Governor Jackson to fight for what he 
declared to be in defense of the State. He was appointed 
major-general of Missouri State Guards. The State was 


THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 


123 


divided into eight military districts and over each was ap¬ 
pointed a brigadier-general to organize and drill the militia. 
For this purpose Governor Jackson appointed A. W. Doni¬ 
phan, Monroe M. Parsons, James S. Rains, John B. Clark, 
Thomas A. Harris, Nathaniel W. Watkins, A. E. Steen, W. Y. 
Slack and James H. McBride; Colonel Doniphan, however, 
refused to accept the appointment, but remained steadfast in 
his allegiance to the Union, yet took no part in the war. 

165. Indorsed by Harney.—General Harney had in the 
meantime returned to St. Louis. He deemed the attack on 
Camp Jackson as proper and just, and said two of the streets 
of the camp were called Davis and Beauregard, after Jefferson 
Davis and the general who had led the attack on Fort Sum¬ 
ter, and that soldiers therein had openly worn the dress and 
badge of Confederate soldiers. He issued a proclamation on 
the fourteenth of May in which he declared: “No Govern¬ 
ment in the world would be entitled to respect that would, for 
a moment, tolerate such openly treasonable preparations,” 
and announced that the whole power of the United States 
would be employed, if necessary, to maintain its authority as 
“the supreme law of the land.” Beyond this he wished only 
to preserve the general peace and to protect all loyal citizens 
from violence of any kind. On the seventeenth of May he 
asked the War department for ten thousand stand of arms, 
and that nine thousand men should be furnished him by Iowa 
and Minnesota. 

166. Price-Harney Agreement.—While these prep¬ 
arations for war were going on, conservative men appealed 
to Harney and Price to preserve the peace and agree upon a 
plan of neutrality; General Harney accordingly sent an invi¬ 
tation to General Price to meet him for the purpose of form¬ 
ing such an agreement, which Price, with Governor Jackson’s 
approval, readily accepted. The Price-Harney agreement 
was formed, wherein each avowed it was his purpose “to 


124 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


restore peace and good order,” and Price was to be intrusted 
with the duty of keeping order in the State, subject to the 
laws of the Federal and State Governments. If this were 
done the people were assured by Harney that he would have 
no occasion, as he had no wish “to make military movements 
in the State which might create jealousies or excitement.” 
In accordance with this agreement. Price dismissed the troops 
at Jefferson City. But because the agreement, which Harney 
said produced a good effect throughout the State, did not 
include that all military organizations should cease and the 
militia be dispersed, this action of Harney's gave great 
offense to Blair and Lyon, who at once determined upon his 
removal. Accordingly, O. D. Filley, as a member of the St. 
Louis “Safety Committee,” which had all along supported 
Lyon and Blair, sent out a circular letter fo every part of the 
State asking that full and detailed reports be sent in of all 
offensive treatment of loyal Union men by the secession ele¬ 
ment. These reports were very voluminous. They were 
forwarded to President Lincoln, who sincerely believed them, 
but Harney did not, but declared that Price was faithfully 
carrying out his part of the agreement. The President 
thought these outrages “should be stopped,” and therefore 
relieved Harney, and put General Lyon in command. 

167. War Declared.—General Lyon was no longer 
impeded by a conservative superior officer, but left free to 
pursue any course he pleased. Both sides began at once to 
again make active preparations for the war. But before 
much had been done William A. Hall and other honorable 
citizens made another effort to prevent a conflict, and per¬ 
suaded Governor Jackson to ask an interview with General 
Lyon “for the purpose of effecting a pacific solution of the 
troubles of Missouri.” Lyon regarded Governor Jackson as a 
traitor, but if he should come to St. Louis for this purpose, 
Lyon promised that he would not arrest him while there or on 


THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 


125 


his way back to the capital. Accordingly the interview took 
place at the Planters’ House, St. Louis, on the eleventh of 
June. The Governor was accompanied by General Price and 
Thomas L. Snead, who appeared for the State, while Lyon, 
Blair, and Major Conant represented the Federal Govern¬ 
ment. General Lyon led the conference for his side, which 
lasted for four or five hours. In a proclamation which the 
Governor published next day he declared that in this inter¬ 
view he had proposed to Lyon and Blair: '‘That I would dis¬ 
band the State Guard and break up its organization; that I 
would disarm all the companies which had been armed by the 
State; that I would pledge myself not to attempt to organize 
the militia under the Military Bill; that no arms or other 
munitions of war should be brought into the State; that I 
would protect all citizens equally in all their rights, regardless 
of their political opinions; that I would suppress all insurrec¬ 
tionary movements within the State; that I would repel all 
attempts to invade it from whatever quarter and by whom¬ 
soever made; and that I would thus maintain a strict neutral¬ 
ity in the present unhappy contest, and preserve the peace of 
the State.” This was a clear abandonment of secession by the 
Governor, but the proposition was made upon the condition 
that the Federal Government would undertake to disarm the 
volunteer soldiers called the Home Guards, and would pledge 
itself not to occupy with its troops any locality in the State 
not occupied by them at that time. Finally, when this prop¬ 
osition had been fully dicussed (till all present understood 
it), Lyon suddenly broke up the conference by this reply: 
"Rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to 
demand that my government shall not enlist troops within 
her limits, or bring troops into the State whenever it pleases, 
or move its troops at its own will into, out of, or through the 
State; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one 
instant the right to dictate to my Government in any matter 
however unimportant, I would see you and every man. 


126 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


woman and child in the State dead and buried;” and, turning 
to the Governor, he said: “This means war; in an hour one of 
my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines.” 
And it did mean war. Men who had known and loved each 
other for years now bade farewell and turned away, a part 
to fight for the Union, the other part for the State. 

Questions on Chapter XIII. 

1. What is said of the arsenal near St. Louis and Jackson’s attempt 

to gain possession of it? (156) 

2. Describe Captain Lyon. (157) 

3. What had he to say of Mr. Lincoln? (157) 

4. What did he foresee from the Kansas troubles? (157) 

5. What did he and Blair determine on? (157) 

6. What call did Mr. Lincoln make? (158) 

7. What was Jackson’s reply? (158) 

8. How did Blair and Lyon regard this reply? (158) 

9. What other bad report did they hear? (158) 

10. What is said of Liberty arsenal? (159) 

11. What conflict between Harney and Lyon had occurred? (160) 

12. Describe Lyon’s conduct on May 9, (161) 

13. What did Frost do on the morning of the tenth? (161) 

14. Describe the attack on Camp Jackson. (162) 

15. What was the purpose of the attack on Camp Jackson? (163) 

16. How did it prove to be a blunder? (163) 

17. What were some of its effects? (164) 

18. Who was placed in command of the State Guard? (164) 

19. How did Harney regard the attack on Camp Jackson? (165) 

20. What was the Price-Harney agreement? (166) 

21. How did Price begin to carry it out? (166) 

22. What did Harney say of it? (166) 

23. How did the Safety Committee break it down? (166) 

24. What was the result on Harney? (166) 

25. What further efforts at peace were made? (167) 

26. Describe the interview between Lyon and Jackson. (167) 

27. What did Jackson propose? (167) 

28. Upon what condition were these propositions made? (167) 

29. Was Lyon willing to concede to the State the right to dictate 

to the Federal Government? (167) 

30. What did he say? (167) What did that mean? (167) 


BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 127 


CHAPTER XIV. 

BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 

168. Hasty Movements.—Jackson and Price hastened 
to Jefferson City immediately after the conference with 
Lyon, arriving there at two o’clock at night. Before day¬ 
light the Governor had issued his proclamation, setting forth 
in full the propositions of the conference, and asking for fifty 
thousand volunteers, 'ffor the purpose,” he said, “of repelling 
the attack that had been made on the State and for the pro¬ 
tection of the lives, liberties and property of her citizens.” 
He also sent orders to the commanders of the different mili¬ 
tary districts (mentioned in section 164), to assemble their 
men and prepare for active service. On the next day he and 
Price and the State officers, with the State papers, hastily set 
out for Boonville, General Price having previously caused the 
railroad bridges over the Osage and Gasconade to be de¬ 
stroyed so as to prevent Lyon’s approach by rail, and directed 
General Parsons, who had collected a small force, to retire to 
a point along the Missouri Pacific railroad and there await 
orders. 

169. At Boonville.—On his arrival at Boonville Jack- 
son found General John B. Clark already there with several 
hundred men. They continued to arrive during the next two 
days, and came in little squads from all around the country, 
but mostly from north of the river where Clark and Price and 
Jackson were greatly beloved. But Price soon became con¬ 
vinced that it would be impossible for him to hold the river 
against the superior force of General Lyon, who was rapidly 
moving up the river. He needed time to organize an army, 
to train the troops who knew nothing at all of a soldier’s 
duties and to furnish them with guns and ammunition. He, 


128 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


therefore, leaving Jackson and Clark behind him, hastened 
on to Lexington. His plan was to assume command of the 
troops who had been assembling at that point, which had 
been threatened by a large body of Kansas and national 
forces, and withdraw them to the southwest, where he hoped 
for time to organize, arm and equip them. 

170. Lyon’s Movements. —The movements of Gen¬ 
eral Lyon were equally active. Immediately after the con¬ 
ference in St. Louis with Jackson and Price, he telegraphed to 
Washington for five thousand stand of arms and authority 
to enlist more troops in Missouri. Both requests were im¬ 
mediately granted. He ordered Colonels Sigel, Salomon and 
B. Gratz Brown with their regiments to set out for Spring- 
field. Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sweeney was put in 
command of this expedition, and its object was to intercept 
Governor Jackson if he should attempt to retreat to Arkan¬ 
sas. Lyon himself took two thousand well-trained troops 
and started by boat next day for Jefferson City. He arrived 
there on the fifteenth of June, and leaving Colonel Boernstein 
and three hundred men to hold the city, he himself proceeded 
up the river. When within eight miles of Boonville, he 
landed most of his men, and caused the boats to move on past 
the city with the rest, in order to deceive Jackson as to his 
real purpose. 

171. Battle of Boonville. —The battle of Boonville was 
fought on Monday, June 17, between Colonel Marmaduke 
with less than five hundred men, and General Lyon with over 
three times that number. The engagement was sharp and 
was kept up for some time. It took place one mile east of 
the city and resulted in routing Marmaduke, with two men 
killed and five slightly wounded. Lyon’s loss was two men 
killed and nine wounded. Jackson was now obliged to beat 
a hasty retreat to the southwest, which he did with his entire 
force, including General Parsons, who had joined him at 


BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 129 


Boonville on the very day of the fight with Lyon. Lyon 
remained at Boonville two weeks waiting for his supplies, 
and thoroughly discouraging any secession movements by 
his very presence. 

172. Discouraging Effects.—This battle of Boonville, 
trifling as it may appear from the amount of fighting done, 
proved to be perhaps the most important to the Union cause 
fought in Missouri during the entire war. It was the first 
real fight between the State and Union forces and the Union 
had won. It was fought, on the part of the State, by volun¬ 
teers alone. When these were defeated it almost put a stop 
to volunteer enlistments in Price’s army. The ardor of the 
Southern sympathizers had led them to believe that Jack¬ 
son’s forces would gain this battle. When he failed they were 
so discouraged and calmed that they quietly submitted. All 
North Missouri was now in complete subjection. At Lexing¬ 
ton Price was threatened with a force of 2,500 men from 
Kansas under Major Sturgis. He therefore ordered his 
troops to proceed southward under command of General 
Rains to join Jackson, and set out himself for Arkansas to 
induce General Ben McCullough with a large Confederate 
army to enter the State and assist in driving Lyon from it. 

173. The Battle of Carthage.—Jackson retreated 
southward rapidly. His force consisted of between six and 
seven thousand men, badly organized and poorly supplied 
with arms and ammunition. At Lamar he was joined by 
Rains, and as he approached Carthage he suddenly found 
Colonel Sigel in his front, with about a thousand well-armed 
men. On July 5 a line of battle was drawn on a ridge which 
gently inclined towards Coon creek, about twelve miles from 
Carthage. About 2,600 infantry armed with shotguns and 
rifles, and 1,500 mounted men similarly armed, took part in 
the fight on the part of the State troops. Sigel opened the 
fight with a steady fire of shot, grape and shell. It was kept up 


130 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


for about an hour, when about two thousand of Jackson s 
unarmed men were ordered to take shelter in the skirting of 


woods on his right. Sigel 
did not know they were 
unarmed, but supposed 
they were ordered to at¬ 
tack him in the rear, and 
withdrew his men in good 
order beyond the creek. 
There he left Essig’s bat¬ 
tery and five companies 
of infantry to prevent the 
State troops from crossing. 
When the troops got within 
four hundred yards of the 
ford they were met by the 
well - directed shots from 
Essig’s battery. Here the 
hottest fighting of the day 
followed. But Generals 
Clark and Parsons man- 



Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel. 


aged to cross at another ford, and were about to cut off any 
possibility of Essig’s escape. He therefore fell back to the 
main body of Sigel’s army, which continued its retreat on to 
Sarcoxie, twenty miles away. Sigel’s loss was thirteen killed 
and thirty-one wounded. Jackson’s loss was ten killed and 
sixty-four wounded. The losses on each side have often been 
erroneously reported to be three or four hundred. 

174. Lyon’s Course.—We left General Lyon at Boon- 
ville. He remained there two weeks and then set out to 
run Jackson down, give him battle and compel him to sur¬ 
render or drive him from the State. He arrived within 
twelve miles of Springfield on July 12, and '‘accompanied by 
a body-guard of ten stalwart troopers for his especial 
escort, he dashed through the streets of the city on his iron- 


BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 131 

grey horse, his bearded warriors being mounted on powerful 
chargers and armed to the teeth with great revolvers and 
massive swords.” The next day he telegraphed to headquar¬ 
ters that Governor Jackson was in that vicinity with not less 
than thirty thousand men, and asked for ten thousand ad¬ 
ditional troops. As a matter of fact Jackson had on the 
previous day left for Arkansas, and the entire combined force 
of Lyon’s foes did not at any time amount to over fifteen 
thousand men, armed and unarmed. 

175. Organization of Price’s Army.—Lyon’s two 
weeks delay at Boonville proved invaluable to Price. Price 
had been successful in inducing McCulloch to cross the bor¬ 
der with several regiments of Confederates and Arkansas 
troops, but without waiting for them he hastened back to 
Missouri to organize his own army. On July 12th he led his 
troops toward Cowskin Prairie, in McDonald county, and 
there had a breathing spell, and began at once a systematic 
organization of his army and energetic preparations for an 
active campaign. He had few arms or military supplies of 
any kind and no money with which to procure them. But 
he needed no money to pay the men. They never expected 
any pay, had never been promised any, but had volunteered 
their services to fight for the State and to help the Governor 
maintain its dignity and himself at its head as its rightful 
executive, as they believed. They were intelligent men; 
such men imbued with the spirit and purposes which actu¬ 
ated them, can always devise munitions of war. Governor 
Jackson on leaving the capital had brought along a supply of 
powder. The lead was taken from the Granby mines near 
by. One of the officers. Major Thomas H. Price, devised 
from the trunks of large trees monster molds for buckshot 
and bullets. The work of organizing and equipping the 
State Guard thus went on apace, and by the end of July it 
was ready to take the field with an effective force of five thou¬ 
sand men armed with hunting rifles, shotguns, a few cannons 


132 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


and a few army guns, while two thousand more unarmed men 
were waiting to pick up the guns of those who might be strick¬ 
en in battle or by disease. 

Questions on Chapter XIV. 

1. What did Jackson do on his arrival at Jefferson City? (168) 

2. How did Price try to impede Lyon’s movements? (168) 

3. What other preparations for a campaign were made? (169) 

4. Describe Lyon’s movements. (170) 

5. Describe the battle of Boonville. (171) 

6. What is said of the importance of this fight? (172) 

7. Detail the incidents of the battle of Carthage. (173) 

8. What was Lyon’s next movement? (174) 

9. What telegram did he send from Springfield? (174) 

10. Describe Price’s movements and the organization of his army. 
(175) 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE BATTLE OF WILSON’S CREEK. 

176. Forward Movements. —On the twenty-eighth 
and twenty-ninth of July General Price, with a force of 5,000 
armed and 2,000 unarmed Missourians, General McCulloch 
with a brigade of 3,200 well-armed Confederates, and General 
Pearce with 2,500 Arkansas troops, in all nearly thirteen 
thousand men, began to unite their forces near Cassville, 
fifty-two miles southwest of Springfield. On the thirty-first 
they started for that city. Lyon learned of the movement 
next day, but was led to believe they were marching upon the 
city by separate routes. He determined therefore to attack 
them in detail and started the same day to meet the force 
advancing from Cassville. He went twenty-four miles in 
that direction, but being unable to learn anything about the 
army in front of him, which was, in fact, the entire forces of 
Pearce, Price and McCulloch, and fearful that they, with 



THE BATTLE OF WILSON’S CREEK. 


133 


their larger force, would flank him and cut off all communica¬ 
tion with Springfield, on Monday, August 3, he returned 
thither. By this time McCulloch had pretty well lost con¬ 
fidence in ‘'the undisciplined” Missouri troops, and in order 
to pacify him General Price, who was a far abler general, 
yielded to him the chief command. McCulloch followed 
Lyon toward Springfield to Wilson’s Creek, about nine miles 
southwest. Here he camped in a considerable valley, within 
reach of some ripening cornfields, which were to be the only 
subsistence of his army for the next day or two. Near the 
ford across this creek the valley was narrow, and toward the 
west was a hill gradually rising from the creek to a height of 
nearly one hundred feet, and covered with undergrowth and 
scrub-oak trees. This hill has since been known as “Bloody 
Hill,” and here on Saturday, August 10, 1861, was fought the 
bloody battle of Wilson’s Creek. 

177. The Battle. —Friday, August 9, Lyon ordered 
Sigel to set out late in the afternoon with his entire force of 
twelve hundred men, turn McCulloch’s right flank and attack 
him in the rear. He himself set out with four thousand two 
hundred men. About midnight he halted within two miles 
of Bloody Hill, and the next morning at dawn started for that 
point. At five o’clock he came in contact with the advance 
State forces under Hunter, which fell back over the brow of 
Bloody Hill. As they did so, Lyon opened on them with his 
cannon, and immediately Sigel, who had completely gained 
McCulloch’s right, responded with his guns upon the eastern 
outposts. McCulloch hastened off to meet Sigel, and Price 
to engage Lyon. Price’s and Lyon’s forces formed within 
three hundred yards of each other, but the undergrowth kept 
them entirely concealed. Price deployed 3,100 men under 
Generals Clark, Parsons and McBride along the eastern de¬ 
clivity; Lyon, leaving the rest of his men for reserve, took 
1,900 of them and formed along the western side, his under- 
officers being the afterwards-famous Generals Schofield, Tot- 


134 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


ten, Sturgis, Granger, Elliott, and Osterhaus. Price waited 
for Lyon to make the attack. This he did soon after six 
o’clock. “Forward” rang along the lines and was plainly 
heard by both sides. Then followed the crackling of the 
brush through which Lyon’s men were advancing, then the 
sharp click of a thousand rifles, the reply of a thousand shot¬ 
guns and the roar of the cannon. The battle raged for five 
hours with desperate fury. “The lines approached again and 
again within less than fifty yards of each other, and then, 
after delivering a deadly fire, each would fall back a few 
paces to re-form and re-load, only to advance again to this 
strange battle in the woods.” Frequently the deepest si¬ 
lence would fall upon the men after one of these charges. 
The two armies were grappling in a death struggle for Mis¬ 
souri. 

About nine o’clock Sigel had been completely routed 
with very little hard fighting and was in full retreat to Spring- 
field. His men had taken instant flight on the dashing on¬ 
slaught of the third Louisiana regiment, which they took for 
Iowa friends. Throwing themselves into the brush, which 
lined both sides of the road, they became separated. Sigel 
and Salomon, with about two hundred Germans, and Carr’s 
company of cavalry, started for Springfield, but were sud¬ 
denly set upon by Colonel Major, with some mounted Mis¬ 
sourians and Texans. The Germans being abandoned by 
Carr, were nearly all either killed, wounded, or captured. 
Sigel reached Springfield with only one man. 

The entire Confederate force, after the defeat of Sigel, 
was ordered to assist Price in his conflict with Lyon. Seeing 
all this army concentrating before him, Lyon determined to 
dash upon Price with all his might and crush him to the 
ground before these gathering forces could come to his relief. 
Then followed the hottest fight of the day. “The engage¬ 
ment at once became general and desperately fierce along the 
entire line. Price’s men appearing in front, often in three or 


THE BATTLE OF WILSON’S CREEK. 


135 


four ranks, lying down, kneeling and standing, and the lines 
often approaching within thirty or forty yards of each other.” 
Riding along in front of his men, now broken and weary by 
the long night-march and four hours’ hard fighting, the in¬ 
trepid Lyon encouraged them to make one more effort to win 
the day. Suddenly his horse was shot from under him, and 
he himself was wounded in the head and in the leg. He was 
stunned for the moment, and was heard to confusedly say he 
feared the day was lost. Then recovering himself, he mount¬ 
ed another horse and rode gallantly along the lines, waving 
his hat and urging his men to follow. The soldiers instantly 
closed around him, and together they dashed into the fight. 
The next moment a ball had pierced Lyon’s breast and he 
was dead. The command fell on Major Sturgis, who ordered 
retreat. The Union forces moved away in perfect order 
from the field for which they had fought so bravely and so 
long. 

178. The Results of the Battle. —Of the 5,400 Union 
men who took part in the fight, 1,317 officers and men were 
killed, wounded or missing. General Lyon, every brigadier- 
general and every colonel engaged on Bloody Hill were either 
killed or wounded, so that the army was led off by a major. 
The total loss of the Confederate and State troops was 1,230 
killed and wounded, out of 10,000 men who in some way 
took part in the battle. Colonels Weightman, Cawthorn and 
Ben Brown were killed; Foster, Kelly and Burbridge were dis¬ 
abled; Generals Slack, Clark and Price were wounded. The 
total number wounded, killed and missing on both sides was 
2,547, or sixteen per cent. Of the 7,700 men who took part in 
the battle on Bloody Hill, on both sides, 1,880 or about 
twenty-five per cent were killed or wounded. Old soldiers 
who took part in the battle have frequently corroborated 
each other in stating that on one acre of the field where the 
battle was fiercest, at least half the surface was covered with 
dead or dying men. 

32 


136 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


179. The Retreat. —Lyon’s army had been completely 
defeated. It was now at the mercy of Price and McCulloch 
if they chose to pursue. It had an immense and richly-laden 
wagon train and other spoils valued at one million, five hun¬ 
dred thousand dollars. These it undertook to conduct safely 
to Rolla. Its adversaries had come out of the battle with 
three or four thousand men who had scarcely fired a gun. 
Besides, the battle gave them plenty of arms and ammuni¬ 
tion. They could also have had this immense army train, 
and thereby supplies for their army for months. But Mc¬ 
Culloch refused to follow up the victory and take easy pos¬ 
session of the fruit which the rules of war made his. He was 
a Confederate officer in command of a Confederate army. He 
had been stationed in Arkansas for the defense of that State 
and the Indian Territory. His duty was to defend, not to 
attack. Missouri was yet in the Union. He had no author¬ 
ity to attack a loyal State. He had repelled Lyon’s intended 
invasion of Arkansas and Indian Territory, and having suc¬ 
ceeded he now conceived it his duty to withdraw from Mis¬ 
souri. In vain did Price beg him to lead the forces against 
the retreating Union army. To have done so would have 
been to retake the State within sixty days. Price was unable 
to accomplish this movement with his forces alone, and 
before he could undertake it the Union army had increased 
to many times larger than his own. Sturgis made the trip to 
Rolla in peace, and Price was never afterwards able to make 
any headway against the overwhelming Union forces that 
now poured into the State. 

Questions on Chapter XV. 

1. What were the Confederate and State forces at the close of July 

and who were in command? (176) 

2. What did Lyon hear and do? (176) 

3. How did McCulloch happen to be in command? (176) 

4. To what place did McCulloch follow Lyon? (176) 

5. What movement did Lyon and Sigel make on August 9? (177) 


THE LAST MONTHS OF 1861. 


137 


6. Describe the arrangement of troops on both sides. (177) 

7. Describe the battle on Bloody Hill. (177) 

8. What success had Sigel had? (177) 

9. What further is said of the fight on Bloody Hill? (177) 

10. What were some of the results of the battle? (178) 

11. What is said of the retreat? (179) 

12. What was the result of failure to follow up the victory? (179) 


CHAPTER XVI. 

THE LAST MONTHS OF 1861. 

180. Actions of the Convention. —The second meet¬ 
ing of the Convention, which, instead of dissolving after its 
March session, had only taken a recess to reconvene at the 
call of its executive committee, was begun in Jefferson City 
on July 22nd. Its former president, Ex-Govorner Price, had 
accepted the position of major-general of the State troops, 
and his seat was declared vacant because of that fact. Rob¬ 
ert Wilson, of Buchanan county, was elected president in his 
stead. The Convention then entered upon some extraor¬ 
dinary proceedings. On July 30 it declared the office of Gov¬ 
ernor vacant and elected one of its own members, Hamilton 
R. Gamble, of St. Louis, Governor in Jackson’s place. It de¬ 
clared the office of Lieutenant-Governor vacant and elected 
Willard P. Hall, of St. Joseph, in Mr. Reynolds’s stead. It 
went further and declared the offices of the members of the 
Legislature vacant and agreed upon a time for electing their 
successors. Before that time had arrived the election was 
postponed, by subsequent sessions, till November, 1862, and 
before an election was held at all, it passed laws prescribing 
that no person should be allowed to vote who did not indorse 
the actions of the Convention. It went still further and 
began to perform the duties of the General Assembly, and 
these duties it exercised for seventeen months before giving 
the people a chance to elect a new Legislature in place of the 



138 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


one whose powers it had assumed, and not till 1864 did it per¬ 
mit the people to elect a Governor in Jackson’s stead, al¬ 
though the Constitution plainly required that in case of a 
vacancy in the office of Governor an election should be held 
to fill it. These acts of the Convention have usually been 
excused on the ground of military necessity. That the great 
mass of the people quietly submitted to such a change, was 
positive proof that they realized the State was now in the 
midst of a great war, which required the exercise of new and 
extraordinary powers by this body which assumed to act for 
the State; and whether they approved of the course of the 
Convention or not as being the best policy, it remains true 
that nearly all its members were conservative, loyal men, 
who at all times had in mind only to secure peace and keep 
the State in the Union. As soon as it was certain that the 
destiny of the State would be safely Union in the hands of a 
new Legislature, the Convention laid down its assumed 
powers and permitted the Legislature to exercise them as it 
had done in former days. 

181. Battle of Lexington.—After the battle of Wil¬ 
son’s Creek, General McCulloch withdrew to Indian Ter¬ 
ritory, General Pearce took his troops back to Arkansas, and 
General Price started north for the Missouri river. On the 
thirteenth of September his forces drew up in front of Lex¬ 
ington, ^nd on the eighteenth began besieging the place. 
The Union troops were well intrenched behind good embank¬ 
ments on Masonic College Hill, the present location of Cen¬ 
tral College for Women. General James A. Mulligan was in 
command with about one thousand five hundred Missouri¬ 
ans and an equal number of Illinois troops. General Price’s 
men numbered about seven thousand fit for service. They 
made movable breastworks of bales of hemp, under shelter 
of which they approached within thirty yards of Mulligan’s 
works. The siege was kept up for fifty-two hours. Then 
Mulligan surrendered. According to General Price, the 


THE LAST MONTHS OF 1861. 


139 


fruits of this victory were three thousand prisoners, five 
pieces of artillery, over three thousand stand of arms, seven 
hundred and fifty horses, about one hundred thousand dol¬ 
lars worth of commissary stores and a large amount of other 
property. He also obtained the restoration of “nine hundred 
thousand dollars in money which had been taken from a 
bank in the city.” During the siege both armies underwent 
great hardships. When it first began, thousands of Price’s 
troops, who had not slept or eaten for thirty-six hours, fought 
desperately all day. When Mulligan surrendered, his men 
were entirely out of water, and all they had had during a 
great part of the siege had been obtained by catching the 
water of a slight rain in their blankets and then ringing them 
in buckets. A week later Price abandoned Lexington and 
started southward. 

182. The Secession Legislature. — While General 
Price was at Lexington, Governor Jackson issued a call from 
that place for the General Assembly to meet on October 21 
at Neosho in the southwest corner of the State, where it could 
be under the shelter of Price’s army. Just how many mem¬ 
bers were present is not known, for the records of its pro¬ 
ceedings do not state. Perhaps not a quorum of either house. 
If this were true, its actions could not be binding upon the 
State. Yet it is true that it passed a secession act by which 
it declared Missouri withdrawn from the Union. It elected 
John B. Clark, Sr., and R. L. Y. Peyton to the Confederate 
Senate at Richmond, Virginia, and eight other gentlemen to 
the House. For purposes of its own the Confederacy chose 
to recognize these acts of the Legislature as legal, and ad¬ 
mitted Missouri into the Confederacy. There can be no 
doubt that many of the people indorsed the action of this 
Legislature. In fact, ever since the attack on Camp Jack- 
son, public sentiment had been growing for secession. But 
the Convention, which some months before this declared va¬ 
cant the seats of the members of the Legislature, still exer- 


140 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


cised the duties of that body and was sustained by the strong 
hand of military power. In its subsequent dealings with the 
State, Congress chose to recognize the Convention as being 
the only power that could take Missouri out of the Union. 
Consequently the State never seceded. But after this “Se¬ 
cession Act” the organization of the State Guard ceased, and 
all those who “went South” and joined the Confederate army 
were known as Confederates, although it was more than three 
months after this before any of them ever saw a Confederate 
flag. Soon after this Governor Jackson went South and re¬ 
mained out of the State most of the time till his death, which 
occurred at Little Rock, December 6, 1862. From that time 
on Thomas C. Reynolds, the Lieutenant-Governor, acted in 
Jackson’s stead till the people elected Thos. C. Fletcher Gov¬ 
ernor, in 1864. Of course the power he exercised was lim¬ 
ited, and was in dispute of the right of Gamble to act as 
Governor of the State. He appointed members to the Con¬ 
federate Congress, both House and Senate, and made a few 
other like appointments, but aside from this he was Governor 
only in name. 

Questions on Chapter XVI. 

1. When did the convention again meet? (180) 

2. Whom did it elect president? (180) 

3. What did it do about the office of Governor? (180) 

4. What did it do as to all other offices? (180) 

5. What powers did it assume? (180) 

6. On what ground have these acts usually been excused? (180) 

7. Describe the battle of Lexington? (181) 

8. Where did the remnant of the Legislature convene? (182) 

9. What is said of it? (182) 

10. Did Missouri secede? (182) Why not? (182) 

11. What were the troops now called? (182) 

12. What became of Jackson? (182) 

13. What about Reynolds? (182) 


FROM 1862 TO 1864. 


141 


CHAPTER XVII. 

FROM 1862 TO 1864. 

183. Ordter No. 24.—The war had produced local dis¬ 
turbances in nearly every county in the State, and in some 
localities neither life nor property was safe. But in St. Louis 
everything was orderly and the Union forces there were in 
full control. For this reason many avowed supporters of 
the Union cause had taken refuge in the city. General Hal- 
leck of the Union army, on December 12th, issued ‘‘Order No. 
24,” making assessments on certain wealthy citizens of the 
city, who favored the cause of Governor Jackson or of the 
Confederacy, by which they were required to contribute 
money for the support of these refugees. Some of these 
citizens refused to pay the assessments and their property 
was seized by force. Samuel Engler, a prominent merchant, 
did not approve of this summary way of taking away his 
property, and attempted to recover it by suit at law. For so 
doing he and his lawyer were arrested and lodged in a mili¬ 
tary prison. After this the assessments were generally paid. 
This method of raising funds was repeated during the next 
few years by the various little commands stationed at differ¬ 
ent points in the State and great sums of money were thus 
obtained. 

184. Battle of Pea Ridge.—General Halleck had 
wintered a large part of his army in and around Lebanon, 
Laclede county, while General Price remained around Spring- 
field. On February 11, 1862, this part of the army, under 
command of General Curtis, moved out upon Price, who fell 
back towards Cassville, then across the State line into Ar¬ 
kansas, where he was joined by General McCulloch and Gen¬ 
eral Albert Pike with a large number of Indians and white 


142 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


troops from Indian Territory. These, added to Price’s eight 
thousand Missourians, made a grand army of nearly twenty 
thousand men, and the whole was placed under the command 
of General Van Dorn, a courageous and daring officer. Cur¬ 
tis, with perhaps a less number of troops, followed Price at 
some distance and encamped near Pea Ridge, a little place 
only a few miles over the line in Arkansas and about thirty 
miles from Cassville. Here, early in the morning of March 
6th, 1862, he was vigorously attacked by Van Dorn, and a 
bloody battle followed, which was skillfully and desperately 
fought on both sides. It lasted for three days, with ever- 
changing fortunes to the opposing forces. At one time it 
seemed that the Union cause would win, then the opposition, 
then again the Union. On the third day victory perched on 
the Federal banner, and the Confederates retreated. The 
Union loss was one thousand three hundred and fifty-one 
killed, wounded and missing. The Confederate loss was 
about the same. General McCulloch was killed, so was Gen¬ 
eral W. Y. Slack of Missouri, and General Price was wounded 
in the arm. 

185. Price Joins the Confederacy.—One month after 
the battle of Pea Ridge General Price published an order in 
which he bade farewell to the State Guard. Shortly after¬ 
ward he was transferred to the east side of the Mississippi 
with about five thousand State troops who had followed him 
into the Confederacy, and from this time on they were known 
as Confederate troops. They were from time to time joined 
by other Missourians, but it is not likely that the number 
ever exceeded ten thousand men. Of their subsequent career 
it is not proper here to speak. Suffice it to say that this band 
of men fought on till the ninth of April, 1865, and on that 
day, the very one on which Lee surrendered, their number 
now reduced to four hundred, they fired their last gun at 
Fort Blakely on the Gulf of Mexico. 


FROM 1862 TO 1864. 


143 


186. State Militia.—The State Convention, which 
held its third session in October, 1861, had also passed a 
Military Bill, not greatly unlike the Military Bill passed by 
the General Assembly in May, which had been urged by Lyon 
and the Convention as one cause for attacking Camp Jack- 
son. This bill provided for the organization of the supporters 
of the Convention and the Union cause throughout the State, 
under the name of the “Missouri State Militia.” Companies 
of these were enlisted in nearly every county, and among the 
prominent officers thereof, who were then or have since been 
prominent citizens of the State, were Col. John F. Philips of 
Pettis, Colonel T. T. Crittenden of Johnson, Major A. W. 
Mullins of Linn, Colonel John F. Williams of Macon, and 
General Odon Guitar of Boone. 

187. Missourians in Opposing Companies.—Early 
in April General Halleck set out for Corinth, Mississippi, and 
left General Schofield in command in Missouri. Governor 
Gamble appointed him Brigadier-General of Missouri State 
Militia, with power to call as much of it into active service as 
might be required to put down all marauders. Confederate 
companies for opposing these were also organized, and as a 
result most of the battles and skirmishes thereafter took 
place between these opposing companies of Missouri citizens. 
There were many of them, but they were mostly small skir¬ 
mishes and to properly describe them would require a large 
volume. They engendered much strife among the people, 
disturbed all kinds of business, broke up churches and the 
schools, and drove many peaceably inclined or defenseless 
persons from the State. 

188. The Sacking of Lawrence.—That a rank growth 
of general freebooting should have sprung up along the bor¬ 
der in both Missouri and Kansas was to be expected from the 
lawless state of affairs which has been recounted under the 
head of “Kansas Troubles.” The war opened a wider field 


144 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


for spoliation. Early in the struggle appeared a band of 
“jayhawkers,” known as “Red Legs,” because they wore red 
morocco leggings. The band was originally devoted to horse 
stealing, but became flexible enough to include rascals of 
every kind. At intervals the band would dash into Missouri, 
seize horses and cattle, commit other and worse outrages, 
then return with their booty to Lawrence and sell it at public 
auction. They did not hesitate to shoot people who objected 
to their acts or inquired into their doings. Mr. Spring, an 
honorable Kansas historian, says: “The gang contained men 
of the most desperate and hardened character, and a full re¬ 
cital of their deeds would sound like a biography of devils.” 
The people of Lawrence could not drive them out or put a 
stop to their maraudings, and so their course of robbery, 
rapine and murder went on. The depredations of these men, 
the campaign of Lane into Missouri some time before, and 
the troubles dating back to 1854, led to the awful destruction 
of Lawrence on August 21, 1863. Quantrell, who led the 
raid, once lived in Lawrence—“a dull, sullen, uninteresting 
knave”—and, just as the war began fled from the town to 
Missouri to escape arrest for crime. He now returned at the 
head of a band of Missouri bushrangers. They rode quietly 
into Kansas, traveled forty miles the night before the mas¬ 
sacre and reached Lawrence at daybreak, one hundred and 
seventy-five strong. Armed with revolvers, they were com¬ 
manded to “kill every man and burn every house.” With a 
wild cry, like that of savage Indians, they dashed through 
the sleeping and defenseless town, killing men indiscriminate¬ 
ly, but especially butchering all Red Legs to be found. In 
the mean time they shouted—“We are here for revenge, and 
we have got it!” Stores, banks, hotels and dwellings they 
rifled and then set them on fire, and of the dead one hundred 
and eighty-three were counted; and from this sickening scene— 
the town in flames, the principal streets lined with corpses, 
many of them charred and blackened—the guerrillas galloped 


FROM 1862 TO 1864. 


145 


away, easily evading Major (late Senator) Plumb with two 
hundred and fifty Union troops, whom they passed on the 
way, and escaped. “Order No. 11“ was four days later is¬ 
sued for the purpose of taking reprisals for this raid on Law¬ 
rence, and making it impossible for such men to live in bor¬ 
der counties. 

189. Order No. 11.—On August 25, 1863, General 
Thomas Ewing, of the Eleventh Kansas Infantry Volunteers, 
issued from his headquarters at Kansas City an order which 
has become famous as “Order No. 11,“ and which shows the 
biting misery the people then had to endure on account of 
the fratricidal war which was being carried on, not by great 
generals and brave soldiers in open and honorable battle, but 
by roving bands of guerrillas of both armies, whose purpose 
was to murder, rob, and despoil, almost as much as to main¬ 
tain the authority of the Union or establish the authority of 
the Confederacy. Order No. 11 commanded all persons then 
living in the counties of Cass, Jackson and Bates, except 
those living in the principal towns, to remove from their 
places of abode within fifteen days. All persons who could 
show to the nearest military commander that they were loyal 
citizens were permitted to move to the military stations or to 
Kansas. All other persons were to move entirely out of these 
counties. Their grain and hay were to be taken to the near¬ 
est military station, where the owners were granted certifi¬ 
cates showing their value, and all produce not so delivered 
was to be destroyed. The military commanders were di¬ 
rected to see this order was promptly obeyed, and they did 
so with dire earnestness. The whole district soon presented 
a scene of desolation rarely equaled. Cass was almost wholly 
depopulated. Of its ten thousand inhabitants only about 
six hundred remained in the county, and these were gathered 
at the military stations of Harrisonville and Pleasant Hill. 
There was also an immense destruction of property. Imme¬ 
diately after the close of the war it was estimated that at 


146 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


least one-third of the houses had been burned and one-half 
of the farms laid waste. In Bates results were still worse. 
Within fifteen days nearly every inhabitant had crossed its 
border, and for three years its history was a blank. During 
these years the prairie fires swept over the land, adding to the 
desolation, and when, in 1866, the older inhabitants returned, 
not a vestige of their old homes was left save the blackened 
chimneys rising above the rank weeds. For these reasons 
these counties were, for a score of years, known as “The 
Burnt District.” A member of General Ewing’s staff was 
Colonel George C. Bingham, who opposed the issuing of this 
order, and begged Ewing not to issue it. When Ewing per¬ 
sisted, he became defiant and told him if he did so he would 
make him “infamous.” Being one of the finest artists in the 
State, after the war closed he painted “Order No. 11.” The 
painting became very celebrated, was copied, and can to this 
day be found in some Missouri homes. But as soil can not be 
destroyed, after the unhappy conflict had closed, many old 
soldiers from either army settled in these counties, and to¬ 
day they are among the most prosperous in the State. 

190. Price’s Raid.—General Price, since the battle of 
Pea Ridge, had been in Arkansas and the South. Early in 
September, 1864, he started upon a bold dash through the 
State, which has been known as “Price’s Raid.” He entered 
southeastern Missouri with a large force. At Pilot Knob he 
met General H. S. Ewing with twelve hundred men, who 
gallantly held his position for a time, then spiked his guns, 
blew up his magazine, and retreated to Rolla to join his forces 
with General McNeil’s. His loss had been about ten men, 
while Price’s had been several times that number. The Union 
forces from every part of the State were now concentrated at 
Jefferson City to defend the capital, and the whole was in 
command of General Brown, ably re-enforced by General 
Clinton B. Fisk from north of the river, and General McNeil 
from Rolla. Price moved rapidly in that direction, burning 


FROM 1862 TO 1864. 


147 


the bridges behind him so as to impede pursuit. On October 
5 he met the outposts of the Union army at the Osage river, 
under command of Major A. W. Mullins and Colonel John F. 
Philips. They gradually fell back with slight skirmishing as 
he approached. Price soon found the capital well intrenched, 
and a large army prepared to resist any attack. He therefore 
moved onward towards Boonville and Lexington, hotly pursued 
by General A. J. Smith. Soon a very heavy Union force, 
under command of General Pleasonton, was in pursuit of 
Price, whose army was now being rapidly increased by re¬ 
cruits. In Saline county he sent General Jo. Shelby and 
General John B. Clark, Jr., to attack Glasgow, on the oppo¬ 
site side of the river in Howard county, which they easily 
captured. At Little Blue creek, in Jackson county, he en¬ 
countered General Curtis, and a sharp contest for a few hours 
was waged, when Curtis fell back. But on the twentieth his 
forces were defeated at Independence by Pleasonton. Price 
had been disappointed in the small number of recruits he had 
gathered. The number had not been over six thousand and 
the raid had accomplished nothing, and so he hastily retreated 
to Arkansas, his troops on the way undergoing the greatest 
hardships for lack of food and water. He entered the State 
no more till the war was ended. But during the raid he had 
marched 1,434 miles, and engaged in forty-three small bat¬ 
tles and skirmishes. 

191. Other Engagements.—The war was now over. 
But it would be a mistake to suppose because Price was out¬ 
side the State during the greater part of the war that there¬ 
fore there were peace and order. The important battles 
have been mentioned, but this was not all the war nor the 
greater part of it. According to the official records, between 
the time of the capture of the Government arsenal at Liberty, 
on April 20, 1861, and the twentieth of November, 1862—a 
period of nineteen months—over three hundred battles and 
skirmishes had been fought within the State. During the 


148 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


next two years it is estimated there were one hundred and 
fifty more, but they were relatively more destructive of life. 
So here is a total of four hundred and fifty small battles and 
skirmishes for the entire war, an average of four for every 
county in the State. North of the river these engagements 
were mostly between the State or Enrolled Militia, and regu¬ 
larly enlisted Confederates who were attempting to make 
their way south to join the Confederate army. It was to pre¬ 
vent them in this attempt that these skirmishes were fought. 
But, nevertheless, many of them “went south,” as it was then 
described, and fought on till peace was established. Most of 
them went after the battle of Pea Ridge, from which time the 
State was practically under the control of the Union author¬ 
ities, and no Confederate army of any consequence was in the 
State till the time of Price’s raid, nearly two years and a half 
afterwards. 

192. The Number of Soldiers.—But the number of 
these men that “went south” was not as large by far as is 
usually supposed. The entire number that enlisted during 
the last three years of the war was less than twenty thou¬ 
sand. Add to these the ten thousand who had joined Price east 
of the Mississippi, and ten thousand for those who either re¬ 
turned home after the battle of Pea Ridge, or had prior to 
that time served as State Guards, and the number is swelled 
to the grand total of forty thousand men, which will include 
all the soldiers that Missouri furnished to Jackson and the 
Confederate service. But the number of Union enlistments 
reached the magnificent array of 109,111 men, which was 
thirty-three thousand more than the number furnished by 
Iowa, eighty-nine thousand more than by Kansas, and three- 
fourths as many as by Massachusetts, and is an undeniable 
answer to all assertions that Missouri was ever disloyal to the 
Union. Of these one hundred and nine thousand one hundred 
and eleven, eight thousand were negroes who had formerly 
been slaves. The Provisional Government, of which Gov- 


FROM 1862 TO 1864. 


149 


ernor Gamble was the head, had been so successful in man¬ 
aging the affairs of the State that it established order over a 
great part of it, and answered every call made by the national 
authorities upon Missouri for men, without a draft and with a 
small expenditure of money. The number of Union soldiers 
was forty-seven per cent of the entire number of men of mili¬ 
tary age, and the number furnished both armies was sixty- 
four per cent of those subject to military duty. These fig¬ 
ures become more instructive when it is remembered that in 
1860 Mr. Lincoln obtained only ten per cent of the State’s vote. 

193. Hamilton R. Gamble.—Governor Gamble hav¬ 
ing died on January 31st, 1864, Lieutenant-Governor Wil¬ 
lard P. Hall became Governor, and acted as such until Jan¬ 
uary, 1865. Hamilton R. Gamble was born in Virginia, in 
1798, and was of Irish descent. 

He was educated at Hampden- 
Sidney College. Before he 
was of age he was admitted 
to the bar in three States. 

In 1818 he moved to Frank¬ 
lin, Howard county, and was 
shortly afterward appointed 
prosecuting attorney. In 1824 
Governor Bates appointed 
him Secretary of State, which 
required him to move to St. 

Charles, the then capital. 

Soon afterward, on the death 
of Bates, he settled in St. 

Louis and made that his 
home till his death. After he took up his home there he 
soon established a reputation as a great lawyer, and from 
that time on was connected with almost every important suit 
pending in the St. Louis courts—followed them to the Supreme 
Court of the United States, argued them in person and 



150 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


obtained a high reputation as a jurist. In 1846 he was a 
member of the legislature. In 1852 he became Chief Jus¬ 
tice of the Supreme Court, and served for three years, being 
at the time a Whig. When the important question of seces¬ 
sion was submitted to the people, he earnestly and ably es¬ 
poused the cause of the Union, and was elected without oppo¬ 
sition to the Convention which was to decide Missouri’s 
course during the war, and was made chairman of the com¬ 
mittee on Federal Relations, and wrote the report against se¬ 
cession which was adopted. When Claiborne Jackson was de¬ 
posed as Governor, he was elected to the office of Provisional 
Governor by the Convention. He assumed the duties of 
Governor August 1st, 1861, and exercised them till his death. 
He was chosen for only one year, but by a vote of the Con¬ 
vention, in June, 1862, he was to continue in office till after 
the election in November, 1864. His powers as Governor 
were great, but he exercised them with a steadfast purpose 
to restore peace. 

Questions on Chapter XVII. 

1. What was order No. 24? (183) 

2. How did Engler try to escape it? (183) 

3. Did any one except Halleck try this method of raising money? 

(183) 

4. Describe the battle of Pea Ridge. (184) 

5. What did Price now do? (185) 

6. How many men followed him? (185) 

7. What is said of the State militia? (186) 

8. Mention some of the prominent officers. (186) 

9. What is said of Missourians in opposing companies? (187) 

10. What is said about the Red Legs? (188) 

11. What is said of Quantrell? (188) 

12. And of the sacking of Lawrence? (188) 

13. What counter movement did General Ewing make? (189) 

14. What was order No. 11? (189) 

15. What were its effects? (189) 

16. What is said of Bingham and his picture? (189) 

17. Describe Price’s raid. (190) 

18. What was accomplished by it? (190) 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 


151 


19. What is said of the number of engagements? (191) 

20. How many Missourians in the State Guard and in the Confed¬ 

eracy? (192) 

21. How do you arrive at this? (192) 

22. How many on the Union side? (192) 

23. What percentage of the population? (192) 

24. Give sketch of life of Gamble. (193) 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR FLETCHER. 

194. Thomas C. Fletcher became Governor January 
2, 1865, and served till 1869. He was the first Republican, 
the first native-born, and the youngest Governor of Missouri 
up to that time. He received 71,531 votes, and his Demo¬ 
cratic opponent, Thomas L. Price, received 30,406. He was 

born in Jefferson county, 
January 22, 1827, and in 
early life received a limited 
education. This defect he 
remedied by hard and per¬ 
sistent study while serving 
as deputy clerk of the courts 
of his county. Afterwards he 
was elected clerk of these 
courts, and in 1856 was ad¬ 
mitted to the bar. In 1860 
he advocated the election of 
Mr. Lincoln, and soon after¬ 
wards warmly indorsed the 
course of Lyon and Blair. 
He recruited the thirty-first 
Missouri regiment of infan¬ 
try and was made its colonel; was wounded and captured, and 
in 1864 was nominated for Governor and elected. 

33 



Thos. C. Fletcher. 



152 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


195. The Constitution of 1865.—The General Assem¬ 
bly had submitted to the people, at the election in 1864, a 
proposition for a Convention to amend the Constitution. It 
was voted to have the Convention by a majority of twenty- 
nine thousand, and sixty-six delegates were elected thereto. 
It met in the Mercantile Library Hall in St. Louis, in January, 
1865, and elected Arnold Krekel president, and Charles 
Drake vice-president. It in time framed a Constitution 
which never had a parallel in America for its rigid severity. 
It became known in history as the “Drake Constitution,” 
because Charles D. Drake was the leading spirit in the Con¬ 
vention, and from this fact and its extreme severity, has been 
called the “Draconian Code,” in comparison to the laws of 
Draco of Greece, which affixed the penalty of death alike to 
petty thefts and murder, Draco justifying this by saying 
small offenses deserved death, and he knew no greater pun¬ 
ishment for worse ones. 

196. Manumission Day.—The Convention, on Janu¬ 
ary 11, 1865, passed an ordinance which declared that “here¬ 
after in this State there shall neither be slavery nor involun¬ 
tary servitude, except in punishment of crime whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted, and all persons held to 
service or labor as slaves are hereby declared free.” This 
ordinance received an overwhelming majority on final pas¬ 
sage, sixty delegates voting for it and only four against it. 
The Convention refused to submit this ordinance to the peo¬ 
ple by a vote of forty-four to four, and Governor Fletcher 
the next day issued his proclamation that “henceforth and 
forever no person shall be subject to any abridgment of 
liberty, except such as the law shall prescribe for the common 
good, or know any master but God.” An effort was also made 
in the Convention to “pay loyal owners for their slaves,” 
but this, too, failed by a vote of forty-four to four. This 
ordinance was passed January 11, 1865, and for that reason 
this day has since been known as Manumission Day. But 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 


153 


for a number of years there had practically been no slavery in 
Missouri, the slave owners making little or no efforts to 
restrain their slaves. There had been 114,031 of them in 
1860, and before the war ended many thousands had either 
gone off to other States or enlisted in the army. 

197. The Test Oath. —The action of the Conven¬ 
tion in passing the Manumission Act was not objected to by 
the people, although the Convention had no authority to de¬ 
clare it to be in force until it had been either adopted by two 
successive legislatures or approved by the votes of the people. 
However, had the Convention stopped at this, no one would 
have thought of calling its declarations the “Draconian 
Code.” But it went further and prescribed a “test oath,” 
which prevented at least one-third of the people from vot¬ 
ing till 1872, and almost as many more would have been 
disfranchised had they sworn strictly to the truth when 
they came to take that oath. This test oath declared that 
no person should vote or hold any kind of office who had 
“ever” engaged in hostilities, or given aid, comfort, coun¬ 
tenance or support to persons engaged in hostilities, against 
the Government of the United States; or had given money, 
goods, letters, or information to its enemies, or by act or 
word manifested his adherence to the cause of such enemies, 
or his sympathy with those engaged in carrying on re¬ 
bellion; or had ever been in anywise connected with any 
society unfriendly to such Government; or had ever know¬ 
ingly harbored, aided or countenanced any person engaged 
in guerrilla warfare; or had ever done any act to prevent 
being enrolled in the military service of the Union or the 
State. Any person who had done any of these things, 
or any other thing like them, could not vote, teach in any 
public or private school, practice law, preach the gospel, “or 
be competent as a minister of any religious denomination, to 
preach, teach, or solemnize marriage, unless such person shall 
have first taken said oath.” It did not only require alle- 


154 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


giance and loyalty to the Union from that time on, which 
would have been a just and wise provision, but it applied to 
all men who had ever borne arms against the United States, 
or had sympathized at any time with those who did take up 
arms, or had done them acts of common kindness, or had re¬ 
fused to bear arms for the national Government. All citizens 
attempting to teach or preach without taking this oath were 
to be fined not less than five hundred dollars, or committed 
to prison not less than six months, or both; and if they falsely 
took it, they were to be tried for perjury and punished by 
imprisonment in the penitentiary. 

198. A Retrospective Law.—An effort was made in 
the Convention to change the words “has ever” been guilty 
of the things recited as offenses in the oath, to “who has since 
December 17, 1861,” been guilty of them. This was done 
for a very just reason. On August 3, 1861, Governor Gam¬ 
ble issued a proclamation in which he promised that all citi¬ 
zens in arms who would return to their homes, and become 
peaceable and loyal, should not be molested. This proclama¬ 
tion was indorsed by President Lincoln, who promised to 
such persons the protection of the national Government. Be¬ 
sides, the Convention of 1861 had, in October of that year, 
promised that all persons who would obey the proclama¬ 
tion and take an oath of allegiance to the Government be¬ 
fore December 17, 1861, should not be punished “for of¬ 
fenses previously committed.” Many citizens in the State had 
thereupon taken such an oath of allegiance. Others had re¬ 
turned from Jackson’s support and become loyal citizens. It 
was but just that good faith should be kept with these men, 
and that the “test oath” should not be made to apply to 
them. But the Convention thought otherwise. The iron-clad 
oath was made to apply alike to all time, past and future. 

199. Ousting the Officers.—The Convention, on 
March 17, 1865, passed an ordinance vacating the offices of the 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 


155 


judges of the Supreme Court and all of the circuit courts and 
all the county offices. The ordinance was to take effect May 
1, and was never submitted to the people. It gave the Gov¬ 
ernor the power to fill all these offices by appointment. Many 
of the terms of the officers, all of whom had been elected by 
the people, had not expired, notably those of the Supreme 
Court judges. They had been elected for a term of six years, 
and had served not more than fifteen months. The reason 
assigned for this wholesale removal was that only loyal men 
should be in office. This was delusive, for Governor Hall in 
his last message on the twenty-ninth of December previous, 
had announced that “all of the civil offices of the State are 
filled with men of avowed loyalty.” The real reason was to 
get rid of the Supreme Court judges. But there were great 
obstacles in the way of their removal. By the old Constitu¬ 
tion, which was the supreme law until replaced by a new one, 
they could be removed only by the Legislature, which would 
not meet till January. By that time the Supreme Court 
might set aside the test oath and other portions of the Con¬ 
stitution. That method was too slow. The power of re¬ 
moval had not been granted to the Convention when the 
people elected their delegates. It could be assumed only in 
violation of the old Constitution, which had been in effect 
since 1820. It was assumed, and with one fell sweep the 
offices of all judges and all county offices were vacated. 

200. Defeat Forestalled.—The Convention agreed to 
submit their Constitution to the people for indorsement. But 
to make sure that it would not be rejected, they also passed 
an “ordinance” declaring that no one should vote for or 
against it who would not first take the test oath. In order to 
be sure that none took the oath falsely, a system of registra¬ 
tion of voters was provided for. The registering officer was 
given the power to pass upon the qualifications of all persons 
to vote, and if he deemed any of them could not truthfully 
take this oath, he refused to enter their names upon the poll 


156 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


books. Yet, after these extreme precautions, the Constitu¬ 
tion was adopted by the people by a majority of only about 
1,800 out of a total vote of 85,000, which was 55,000 less votes 
than were cast for and against having the Convention the 
previous November. The election was held June 6, 1865. 

201. Enforcing the Ousting Ordinance.—The Amer¬ 
ican people have always been quick to resent any interference 
by a legislative body with the judiciary, especially when it 
partakes of partisan politics. This “ousting ordinance” was 
no exception to the rule. It gave great offense to a large 
number of persons, and assisted in driving them to the side 
of the reactionary current of feeling then rapidly setting in. 
The enforcement of the law against the Supreme Judges was 
resisted by two of the judges, W. V. N. Bay and J. D. S. 
Dryden. Judge Bates had resigned. Soon after the ordi¬ 
nance was passed Governor Fletcher appointed David Wag¬ 
ner, Nathaniel Holmes and W. L. Lovelace Supreme Judges. 
Judges Bay and Dryden declared the law without proper au¬ 
thority and refused to vacate. Governor Fletcher, therefore, 
directed the police of St. Louis to arrest them and forcibly 
eject them from the court. This was done, and they were 
taken before a criminal court of the city for disturbing the 
peace, and never afterwards attempted to resume their 
offices. 

202. The Results of the Draconian Code.—A most 
violent proscription followed the enforcement of this “test 
oath.” “Tens of thousands of old and honored citizens, men 
of education and influence, who had taken no part in the war, 
were denied the right to vote, and that, too, on the adoption 
of an organic law which was to govern them and their chil¬ 
dren after them.” But, hard as this was, it is not to be com¬ 
pared to the further penalty of the law which forbade them 
to preach, teach, practice law or follow other simple employ¬ 
ments. Their only remaining rights seemed to be, as they 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 


157 


were plainly told, “to pay taxes, work the roads and hold 
their peace.” In St. Louis, Francis Preston Blair, who had 
done more than any other man to keep Missouri in the Union, 
was denied the privilege of voting because he refused to take 
the test oath. He filed an oath that he had been loyal ever 
since the adoption of the Constitution, and he would full and 
true allegiance bear to the State and National governments 
thereafter; but claimed the judges of election had no right 
to inquire into his conduct prior to the time the Constitu¬ 
tion was adopted. He brought suit in the Supreme Court to 
compel the election officers to receive his ballot. It decided 
against him. 

The Missouri Baptists at their annual State meeting, 
fifty delegates being present, agreed to decline to take the 
oath, even if they had to give up preaching to do so. They 
declared it interfered with religious liberty, with freedom of 
the worship of God and was contrary to the Federal Consti¬ 
tution. The Catholic archbishop informed the clergy they 
could not take the oath without a surrender of religious lib¬ 
erty. Some men, who believed the dictates of conscience 
more binding upon them than this “code,” undertook to 
preach the gospel anyhow. For doing so they were indicted 
as criminals. Fourteen ministers were indicted at Palmyra 
at a single session of the circuit court. At other places men 
were indicted 104 times a year for no greater crime than 
preaching the glad message of salvation; a much greater 
number were indicted a less number of times; a few were con¬ 
signed to the common jail. These were not bad and quarrel¬ 
some men, but as good, able and peaceable as could be found 
in the State, and clergymen of both Protestant and Catholic 
churches. In Cape Girardeau county three sisters of Charity 
were dragged into court and tried for teaching without 
having taken this iron-clad oath, but the jury refused to con¬ 
vict them. At Louisiana, the Rev. J. A. Cummings, a priest 


158 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


in the Catholic church, was convicted in the circuit court. 
His crime was teaching and preaching without having taken 
the oath referred to. There was no evidence that Mr. Cum¬ 
mings had been guilty of any act of disloyalty, or that he had 
at any time a disloyal thought or sympathy. He was not so 
charged. He was charged only with preaching and teaching 
without having taken the oath, which had he taken falsely, 
however loyal he was then and thereafter, would have made 
him liable to imprisonment in the penitentiary. He was con¬ 
victed, sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars and to 
be committed to jail till the fine and costs were paid. He ap¬ 
pealed his case to the Supreme Court of the State. It decided 
against him. Then he appealed to the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and it set the test oath aside as contrary to the 
nation’s Constitution. That court declared it to be an ex 
post facto law. It said no State was permitted to enact a law 
which punished men for offenses committed before the law 
was passed. After that decision, indictments ceased for 
preaching the Gospel and practicing law and pursuing other 
employments. These indictments had in but few cases been 
followed by fine and imprisonment. Final action had been 
taken in but very few of them, the courts in most cases de¬ 
laying trial in the matter till the national Supreme Court 
should decide the Cummings case. When that decision was 
made in favor of the preachers, teachers and lawyers, the 
indictments were never again called up in court, and never 
again heard of. 

203. Registration Act.—The Supreme Court of the 
United States had, by its decision in the case of J. A. Cum¬ 
mings and in that of Francis P. Blair, set aside all that part 
of the test oath which disfranchised so many men. Since 
then some of the strongest Union men in the State had set 
themselves against it, including such prominent citizens as 
Francis P. Blair, John S. Phelps, B. Gratz Brown, Carl 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 


159 


Schurz, Samuel T. Glover, John F. Philips, James O. Broad- 
head, and Willard P. Hall. The movement had gained great 
momentum, but still its opponents had a majority in the 
Legislature. At the session of 1868 it was therefore deter¬ 
mined to again make an attempt at general proscription. A 
very stringent registration law was passed. It gave the Gov¬ 
ernor power to appoint superintendents of registration in 
each senatorial district, who in turn appointed three registers 
in each county. These four officers were authorized to make 
a list of all the legal voters in the county. They were for¬ 
bidden to enroll any person who would not take an oath of 
loyalty, and besides were given the power to refuse to enroll 
any others than those they chose. In many counties they 
chose to refuse half of the citizens. In some cases wealthy can¬ 
didates for office influenced the registers to enroll their fol¬ 
lowers, and to decline to enroll their opponents. No one was 
allowed to vote whose name was not enrolled by these regis¬ 
ters. This law, perhaps, disfranchised more voters than the 
original 'Test oath.” It was made a principal issue in the 
campaign of 1868, and the canvass was attended with bitter¬ 
ness and often violence. 

204. The Election of 1868.—The Republican candi¬ 
date for Governor was Joseph W. McClurg of Camden county. 
The Democratic candidate was John S. Phelps of Springfield. 
McClurg’s majority was 19,000, and the whole vote cast was 
145,000. E. O. Stanard, of St, Louis, was elected Lieutenant- 
Governor. 


Questions on Chapter XVIII. 

1. What is said of Thomas C. Fletcher? (194) 

2. What proposition did the Legislature submit to the people at the 

election of 1864? (195) 

3. When did this convention meet and who was its president? 
(195) 

What is said of the constitution it framed? (195) 


4. 


160 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


5. What action did this Convention take toward manumitting 

slaves? (196) 

6. What did it avail? (196) ' 

7. How was it received by the people? (197) 

8. To what persons did the test oath deny the ballot? (197) 

9. What else did it deny them? (197) 

10. What penalties did it prescribe? (197) 

11. To what time was it attempted to limit its proscriptions? (198) 

12. Why was this done? (198) 

13. How had the President indorsed this proclamation? (198) 

14. Who else indorsed it, and how? (198) 

15. What about a State that violates its promises? (198) 

16. What action did the Convention take toward ousting officers? 

(199) 

17. On what grounds? (199) 

18. What had Governor Hall to say about this? (199) 

19. What was the real reason for ousting the officers? (199) 

20. How did the Convention forestall defeat? (200) 

21. What was the result of the election? (200) 

22. How was the ousting ordinance enforced? (201) 

23. Mention some results of the Drake Constitution. (202) 

24. How was Frank Blair treated? (202) 

25. What course did he pursue? (202) 

26. What course did the Missouri Baptists pursue? (202) 

27. What did the Catholic archbishop do? (202) 

28. How about the indictment of preachers? (202) 

29. Recite the details in the trial of J. A. Cummings. (202) 

30. How did the U. S. Supreme Court regard this law? (202) 

31. What prominent men led the opposition to the test oath? (203) 

32. How did its friends determine upon neutralizing the U. S. Court’s 

decision? (203) 

33. What is said of this Registration Act? (203) 

34. How did the election of 1868 result? (204) 


McCLURG’S ADMINISTRATION. 


161 


CHAPTER XIX. 


McCLURG’S ADMINISTRATION. 

205. Joseph W. McClurg was born in St. Louis county, 
February 22, 1818, and was educated at Oxford, Ohio. He 
taught school in Ohio and Louisiana, and was deputy sheriff 


in St. Louis before he was 
twenty-one. Two years 
later he was licensed to 
practice law, but soon aft¬ 
erwards engaged in mer¬ 
chandizing in Camden 
county. When the war 
came on he took positive 
and enthusiastic grounds 
for the Union. He entered 
Congress as a Republican 
in 1862 and served till Jan¬ 
uary, 1869, when he re¬ 
signed to become Governor 
of Missouri. He was again 
a candidate in 1870, but 
was defeated. 



Joseph W. McClurg. 


206. Suffrage for Slaves.—The Legislature had in 
1867 agreed by a large majority to submit to the people an 
amendment to the Constitution granting to former slaves and 
their descendants the privilege of voting. The amendment 
was voted on at the election in November, 1868, and was de¬ 
feated by nearly nineteen thousand majority. But on January 
7, 1870, the question again came before the Legislature in the 
15th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
which the Legislature adopted by about a two-thirds vote of 
both houses, and as the President soon afterwards pro¬ 
claimed that the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States 


162 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


had adopted the amendment, these people were thus given 
the privilege of voting. This was before the ballot had been 
restored to those who were disfranchised by the Drake Con¬ 
stitution and the registration act. 

207. Repeal of Proscriptive Tests.—The same Legis¬ 
lature, however, agreed to submit to the voters an amend¬ 
ment to the Constitution abolishing the test oath and restor¬ 
ing the ballot to former Confederates, Southern sympathizers 
and all other male citizens; and relieving them of other pro¬ 
scriptive penalties. This was voted on in November, 1870. A 
very warm and earnest campaign preceded the vote. The 
Republican party disagreed in regard to what should be done 
with the great number of disfranchised citizens. Many were 
in favor of postponing the giving of the ballot to these men. 
These were called ‘‘Radical Republicans.” But an equal 
number believed in entire removal of all political disabilities 
at once. They were called ‘‘Liberal Republicans.” The 
Republicans met in Convention in Jefferson City in August, 
1870, and voted to adhere to the Radical Republican doc¬ 
trine, by a vote of 349 to 342, and nominated Joseph W. 
McClurg, the then Governor, for re-election. The Liberal 
Republicans withdrew from the Convention, adopted a plat¬ 
form for immediate re-enfranchisement, and nominated B. 
Gratz Brown for Governor. The Democrats declined to 
nominate State officers, but supported the Liberal Repub¬ 
lican ticket. Mr. Brown was elected by forty-one thousand 
majority, and the people voted to repeal the proscriptive 
tests by a majority of one hundred and eleven thousand, 
there being only about sixteen thousand votes against the 
proposition. J. J. Gravelly was elected Lieutenant-Governor. 
The Liberal Republicans and Democrats had also obtained a 
majority in both houses of the Legislature, and they went to 
work at once to repeal all obnoxious laws, and restore to 
every man equality before the laws, and remove all political 
disabilities from all. As a result, at the election in 1872 the 


McCLURG’S ADMINISTRATION. 


163 


vote was 112,276 greater than it was in 1870, an increase of 
sixty-seven per cent in two years. By this fact we can arrive 
at an estimate of the number disfranchised. Of this increase 
it is not proper to count the negro vote, because the 15th 
amendment to the national Constitution, bestowing on 
negroes the right to vote, became a law of the nation prior 
to the election of 1870. It is possible, however, that twenty- 
five per cent of the increase, or twenty-eight thousand, were 
immigrants and young men now for the first time old enough 
to vote. This would leave eighty-four thousand men who 
had been disfranchised by the sweeping proscription of the 
Drake Constitution—more than twice as many as ever took 
up arms as State Guards or Confederate troops. 

208. Peace.—The restoration to citizenship was wise 
and just. Whatsoever good reason there might have been 
for denying to so many citizens the right to vote and follow 
their chosen employments in 1865, it could not be urged that 
the conduct of these men had been such as to make it unsafe 
to trust them with full and equal citizenship within a few 
years after the war had closed. Their conduct was as peace¬ 
able and orderly as that of any class of men in the State. Not 
even did the preachers, teachers and lawyers, after the United 
States Supreme Court had restored to them the privilege of 
following their chosen pursuits, make harsh or disloyal as¬ 
sertions in public. Political subjects were rarely spoken of in 
the pulpit or school. The great mass of these men had quietly 
returned to their homes, controlled by a desire for peace and 
to submit in good faith to the authority of the Union. They 
had gone diligently to work at whatever employment was 
open to them, to regaining their lost fortunes, rebuilding their 
burnt houses, and re-establishing themselves in the land 
whose fruits they had enjoyed before the war. Nothing is to 
be feared from such men, and now that the duty was upon 
them again to maintain the Union they loyally and honestly 
undertook to do so. 


164 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Questions on Chapter XIX. 

1. Give sketch of the life of Joseph McClurg. (205) 

2. How did the people vote on the question of giving the ballot 

to former slaves and their descendants? (206) 

3. But what course did the Legislature pursue? (206) 

4. Describe the split in the Republican party. (207) 

5. What was the result of the election? (207) 

6. What majority did Brown secure? (207) 

7. What was the majority for removing proscriptive tests? (207) 

8. What was the increase of the vote two years later? (207) 

9. What do these figures show? (207) 

10. What about the restoration of citizenship to all? (208) 

11. How did the preachers, lawyers, teachers and other disfran¬ 

chised persons behave? (208) 


CHAPTER XX. 


THE ADMINISTRATION 

209. Benjamin Gratz 

ernor, served from January, 
1871, to 1873. He was born 
at Lexington, Kentucky, in 
1826, and was a descendant 
of much-honored families of 
Virginia and Kentucky. He 
received the best of schooling 
in his native State and grad¬ 
uated at Yale College at the 
age of twenty-one. He came 
to Missouri in 1849, settled 
in St. Louis, and began the 
practice of law, but aban¬ 
doned it in a year or two. 
In 1852 he was elected to 
the Legislature and was re¬ 
elected in 1854, both times 


OF GOVERNOR BROWN. 
Brown, the twentieth Gov- 



B. Gratz Brown. 


a “Free Soil” candidate. In 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF BROWN. 


165 


1854 he became editor of the Missouri Democrat, and con¬ 
tinued as such till the breaking out of the war, with great 
ability and reputation. Early in the war he raised a Union 
regiment, became its colonel, and bore himself as a gal¬ 
lant and brave officer in the campaign in southwest Missouri. 
In 1863 he was elected to the United States Senate by the 
radical emancipationists, and served till 1867. In 1866 he 
led the opposition to the test oath proscription. In 1870 he 
was nominated for Governor by the Liberal Republicans, was 
elected and served two years. Then he returned to St. Louis, 
resumed the practice of law and gained distinction at the bar. 
In 1872 he was nominated by the Liberal Republicans for Vice- 
President along with Horace Greeley for President, and was 
defeated. He was an excellent Governor, and did much to 
bring about peaceable and kind feelings between the dis¬ 
cordant elements created by the war. He died in St. Louis, 
respected, honored and loved as a good and true man. 

210. Peace and Prosperity.—^As the people got away 
from the war and began to study the lessons it had taught, 
the better side of mankind again showed itself. A general 
desire for peace grew stronger and stronger. A purpose to 
restore order, to re-establish prosperity, to retrieve broken 
fortunes, was manifest everywhere. Many a noble estate had 
been swept away by the fell hand of cruel war. Many a rich 
plantation had been laid waste, many a comfortable farm¬ 
house had been burnt, cattle and horses and all kinds of stock 
had been seized and driven from the land, confidence was de¬ 
stroyed, and deep feelings of resentment had laid hold on 
those formerly neighbors. But now that it was all over, that 
the c^use was gone, these feelings gave way to higher and 
better and more manly ones, and the determination was sure 
and settled that the war should be over forever. Men began, 
in their cool and quiet labors, to see that they could honestly 
differ about even such a thing as war. This was followed by 


166 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


peace and mutual confidence, and now again the woodman’s 
axe was heard in the forests, the plow was set deeper into the 
soil, and the grain ripened in the fields, was garnered and 
sold in the open market. A few malevolent spirits still sulked 
abroad, but the great body of the people—Union and Con¬ 
federate soldier. Northerner, Southerner, foreigner and native 
alike—united in action and feeling in intellectual and moral 
upbuilding. While the war had lasted many of the schools 
were closed, till at one time there were only 1,200 open. By 
1870 this number had increased to 5,000. Population had de¬ 
creased from 1,182,000 in 1860 to about 900,000 in January, 
1865. Now in 1870, it was 1,719,000, according to the 
United States census, but in fact it was somewhat smaller. 
The taxable wealth had almost doubled within the four years 
prior to 1870. Tens of thousands of immigrants, mostly from 
the Atlantic States and from north of the Ohio, had come 
into Missouri and acquired homes. On every side the people 
were fast effacing all traces of the war. 

211. Railroad Difficulties.—The Drake Constitution 
permitted counties to subscribe any sum of money to aid in 
building railroads. It unfortunately authorized the county 
court to issue bonds binding the county for the payment of 
these subscriptions whenever two-thirds of the qualified 
voters of the county should assent thereto. These courts, in 
some cases, were composed of characterless or ignorant men, 
and the ‘‘qualified voters” were not the people who owned the 
property of the county, and who, therefore, would have to 
pay its taxes, for many of them had been disfranchised, but 
a class of men who were governed more by other motives 
than justice and patriotism. The elections frequently were 
merely formal, only a small per cent of the taxpayers being 
permitted to vote. Dishonest speculators, in a few instances, 
bribed the courts to make the subscriptions without the peo¬ 
ple’s knowledge or consent. Bonds to the amount of fifteen 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF BROWN. 


167 


million dollars and over were issued by the various counties. 
But the roads were never built. Usually, work would be 
commenced on the roadbeds at various places along the pro¬ 
posed routes, and kept up with great vigor for a few weeks, 
and then reports would come that the companies had become 
bankrupt, and work would cease. Only partial payments 
were ever made for the work done. 

In the meantime the bonds were run off to New York 
and elsewhere, and, before they had matured, were sold to 
third parties, who paid little or no money for them, but after¬ 
wards claimed that they were innocent of any knowledge of 
the fraud practiced upon the taxpayers. As the courts had 
the power by law to issue the bonds, the United States 
Supreme Court held they must be paid. As a result, debts of 
several hundred thousand dollars were fastened upon Lafay¬ 
ette, Cass, Knox, St. Clair and other counties. 

212. Resisting Payments.—Payment of these bonds 
was, in a few cases made in full; in others terms of com¬ 
promise were agreed upon by which the bond-holders ac¬ 
cepted fifty or sixty or eighty per cent of the face of the bonds 
as full payment; but in other cases, where the debts were enor¬ 
mous and the fraud glaring, payment was resisted. In Cass 
county popular resentment became violent, and at Gunn City 
on April 24, 1872, a large uprising of the people put to death 
three men concerned in issuing the bonds. Judge J. C. Stev¬ 
enson, one of th6 county judges, and James C. Cline, county 
attorney, had been indicted for complicity in the fraudulent 
issuing of the bonds. On this date they and Thomas Dutro, 
who was one of Cline’s bondsmen, were on a train which was 
intercepted by about three hundred citizens of Cass county. 
They were mercilessly shot down, and the train greatly dam¬ 
aged by the infuriated people. Popular feeling in Cass and 
surrounding counties soon became intense. Governor Brown 
called out the militia, and sent General F. M. Cockrell and 
34 


168 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Colonel John F. Philips as special commissioners for the State 
to urge peace and order. These efforts were entirely success¬ 
ful. Attempts were afterwards made to punish the men who 
assisted in the killing, but no jury could be persuaded to con¬ 
vict them. Since that time the bond-holders have brought 
suit against these counties in the United States courts, which 
decided against the counties and instructed the county courts 
to levy taxes to pay these debts. But a new set of judges 
had, in the‘meantime, come into office; men who considered 
it unjust to pay bonds for roads that had never been built. 
They refused to levy the taxes, and were in some instances 
sent to prison for contempt of Federal authority. But they 
would not order the levy, and, when they tired of the at¬ 
tempts to force them to do so, they would resign, and their 
successors pursued the same course. By this means the 
Federal courts were powerless to enforce payment, though 
various attempts were made for ten years. But in nearly 
every county these bonds have now been settled by com¬ 
promise. 

213. Other Railroad Debts.—There were other rail¬ 
road debts. At different times prior to the war the State 
granted to various railroad companies aid in the construction 
of their roads by issuing State bonds to the amount of about 
twenty-three million dollars. For this aid the companies 
agreed to pay the interest on these bonds as fast as it became 
due, and if they failed to do so the roads were to be forfeited 
to the State. The Hannibal and St. Joseph road paid its 
bonds, which amounted to three million dollars, and also the 
interest. But default in the payment of the interest by the 
other roads was made between January, 1859, and July, 1861, 
and soon after the war the Missouri Pacific, the Frisco, the 
Iron Mountain, the Wabash and other roads were sold by the 
State. In addition to this there was forfeited to the State and 
sold along with the roads over one million acres of land, which 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF BROWN. 


169 


had been granted to them by Congress, and pledged to the 
State for payment of this debt. The entire debt at the time 
of the sale, including principal and interest, was over thirty- 
one million dollars, and the State realized from the various 
sales only a little over six millions, so that there remained a 
debt of twenty-five millions, which the State has since had 
to pay, besides the many millions in interest maturing since 
the sale. These railroad debts have been the source of nearly 
all the State’s subsequent debts. The original bonds bore 
six and seven per cent interest. But the State went about 
the work of steadily paying the debt, and in 1885 it bought 
up nearly half of its six per cent bonds by new bonds which 
bore only three and a half per cent interest, and thus a great 
amount of money was saved annually in interest alone. The 
last of the debt was paid by 1903 except about $4,300,000, 
which is now represented by “certificates of indebtedness’’ 
belonging to the Public School Fund and the Seminary Fund. 
The State pays interest on those certificates, which is dis¬ 
tributed annually to the public schools and the University. 

214. The Election of 1872.—The Liberal Republican 
movement which began in 1870, and which subsequently 
spread over all the Union, continued. Efforts were made to 
reunite the two discordant factions of the Republican party, 
but they utterly failed. On August 21, 1872, the Liberal Re¬ 
publicans and the Democrats met in separate conventions in 
Jefferson City to nominate a joint ticket. A committee of 
conference was appointed from each convention, which soon 
agreed upon a fusion ticket. The various offices were divided 
up between the two parties according to their numerical 
strength. The Democrats nominated the candidate for Gov¬ 
ernor, the four Supreme Judges, eight of the Presidential 
electors. Treasurer, Attorney-General and Auditor; the Lib¬ 
erals named the Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State. 
Register of Lands and seven Presidential Electors. Silas 


170 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Woodson of Buchanan county was the nominee for Governor, 
and Charles P. Johnson of St. Louis for Lieutenant-Governor. 
The two conventions then came together into one, and in¬ 
dorsed the nominations as a whole. In September, the reg¬ 
ular Republicans nominated John B. Henderson for Governor. 
At the election, Woodson’s majority was 35,444, and the 
entire electoral vote of the State was cast for Greeley for 
President and Brown for Vice-President. At the time for the 
next election in 1874, the Liberal Republican movement had 
disappeared, the vast majority of that party having become 
Democrats, but a few reunited with the regular Republicans. 

Questions on Chapter XX. 

1. Give a sketch of the life of B. Gratz Brown. (209) 

2. What is said of him as Governor? (209) 

3. What were some of the effects of the war? (210) 

4. What now was the condition? (210) 

5. What is said about schools and population? (210) 

6. What railroad difficulties are described in section 211? 

7. What was done with these bonds? (211) 

8. How were the debts settled in many cases? (212) 

9. Describe the Gunn City tragedy. (212) 

10. How was order restored? (212) 

11. What about the actions of county judges in some of these coun¬ 

ties? (212) 

12. Describe other railroad debts. (213) 

13. How much was the entire <lebt at one time, and what was it after 

the railroads and lands were sold? (213) 

14. What was done in 1885? (213) 

15. How is the rest of the debt now represented? (213) 

16. What is said of parties in 1872? (214) 

17. Who were the candidates and who was elected? (214) 

18. What became of the Liberal Republican movement? (214) 


GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 


171 


CHAPTER XXI. 

GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 

215. Silas Woodson was born in Kentucky in 1819. 
He was reared on a farm, attended the “log schoolhouse” in 
the neighborhood, and employed much of his time in read¬ 
ing and study. He was licensed to practice law at the age 
of twenty-one, and three years later was elected to the Leg¬ 
islature, and re-elected sev¬ 
eral times in the next twelve 
years. He also was circuit 
attorney for four years. In 
1854 he came to Missouri 
and settled in St. Joseph, 
where he was soon recog¬ 
nized as a lawyer of marked 
ability. In 1860 he was 
elected circuit judge and 
served with acceptability 
through the stormy days of 
the war. He was elected 
chairman of the Democratic 
State Convention of 1872. 

He was not then a candidate 
for Governor. But there 
were six candidates. Three 
ballots were taken without any choice, and in the midst of the 
fourth the name of Woodson was proposed as a compromise 
candidate, and it was received with such enthusiasm that he 
was nominated almost unanimously. He was inaugurated 
January 8, 1873, and served two years. He filled other hon¬ 
orable positions after his term as Governor expired, and died 
in St. Joseph in 1896. 



172 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


216. Business Depression.—During the term of Gov¬ 
ernor Woodson there was the greatest financial depression. 
The crisis was precipitated by the failure of Jay Cooke & 
Company of New York in the spring of 1873. The panic soon 
became general. Every State in the Union felt the bitings 
and gnawings of business failure. In Missouri, bank after 
bank closed its doors, and business was temporarily par¬ 
alyzed. To add to the troubles there was a failure in crops, 
owing to a drought which set in in the summer of 1873 and 
lasted for eighteen months, with very little rain at any time. 
The Governor, in his message of 1874, said: “Thousands who 
in days gone by have been able, without serious difficulty or 
great loss, to obtain money with which to pay debts or taxes, 
can not procure a dollar for any purpose except at the most 
ruinous sacrifices.” He proposed to meet the difficulties, as 
far as possible, by cutting down expenditures in all offices, 
and so earnestly did he plead with the Legislature that it 
and subsequent sessions reduced State and county expenses 
nearly one-half in every branch of the State government 
except that of public education. 

217. The Grange.—The financial troubles of 1873 and 
1874 were in part due to the natural collapse of the reckless 
speculation which seized upon the people at the close of the 
war, and of the high prices which that war had created with 
the assistance of a very large amount of discredited paper 
money. But a very large part of the people did not accept 
this as the cause, and throughout the West there began to 
form farmers’ societies which were called the Grange. Some 
times the order was called the Patrons of Husbandry, but it 
was better known by the former name. It spread rapidly 
throughout the West and soon had over a million members, 
with local societies in almost every neighborhood. Many 
of its members, and most of its leaders, were men of integrity, 
but its great membership was undoubtedly due to the finan¬ 
cial troubles of 1873 and 1874. The order refused to admit 


GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 


173 


lawyers, bankers, capitalists, and merchants as members. It 
was organized on the theory that nearly all financial troubles 
were due to bad legislation, and it proposed to unite all labor¬ 
ers, especially farmers, in an attempt to repeal all bad laws 
and make all necessary good ones. This, of course, had been 
the desire of all good citizens from the beginning of the na¬ 
tion, but thoughtful men soon concluded that the Grange 
acted upon the unfair theory that its members were entitled 
to favors in the making of laws which were to be denied to 
other persons. This led much of the press in the East, and 
even in States where the organization was strongest, to op¬ 
pose it, as teaching doctrines which would array one class of 
citizens against another. This opposition the Grange met 
by declaring the unfriendly press was dominated by the cap¬ 
italists and corporations, and hence there began to be discord¬ 
ant relations between the order and the political parties. 

218. Campaign of 1874.—At the election of 1874 the 
Democratic party nominated Charles H. Hardin, of Audrain 
county, for Governor, and Norman J. Colman for Lieutenant- 
Governor. The Republicans declined to make any nomina¬ 
tions, but the Grange and that party united in what was 
called the People’s Party, and nominated William Gentry, 
an extensive farmer of Pettis county, for Governor. The cry 
of the Granger members of the People’s Party was “Reform,” 
by which they meant retrenchment in governmental expend¬ 
itures. But Governor Woodson and the Legislature had 
already forestalled them by passing the laws cutting down 
expenses, and hence few of the Democratic farmers saw any 
reason to leave their party on that account. Hardin was 
elected by a majority of 37,463, and the Democrats elected 
thirteen Representatives in Congress, the number to which 
the State was entitled. The part the Grange had taken in 
politics at this election caused much dissatisfaction among 
its members, and the order soon began to lose power, and in 
a year or two went down almost as fast as it had risen. 


174 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


219. Charles H. Hardin was born in Kentucky in 
1820, but came with his parents to Missouri when a mere 
infant. He was reared to manhood in Columbia, and enjoyed 
the advantages of good schools. He afterwards graduated 
with the degree of A. B. from Miami University, in Ohio. He 
returned to Missouri, studied law, located at Fulton, rapidly 
rose in his profession, and soon became known as a laborious, 
painstaking lawyer. In 1848 he became prosecuting attor¬ 
ney for the third judicial circuit, which embraced several 
counties. In 1852, 1854 and 1858 he represented Callaway 
county in the Legislature as a Whig, and in 1855 was one of 
the committee of three which revised all the statutes of the 
State and codified them in book form. In 1860 he was 
elected to the State Senate, and was the author of the reso¬ 
lution creating the con¬ 
vention to which was 
referred the question 
of secession. He at¬ 
tended the called meet¬ 
ing of the Legislature 
held at Neosho in Octo¬ 
ber, 1861, and was the 
only Senator who voted 
against secession. He 
remained unalterable 
in his allegiance to the 
Union during the war, 
but took no active 
part in the troubles of 
those times. In 1872 
he was again elected 
to the Senate and 
maintained his former 
reputation lor laborious and conscientious work. In 1874 
he was elected Governor, and his administration was one 





GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 


175 


of the most honorable in the entire history of the State. 
In 1873 a college for the education of girls was projected at 
Mexico, at which place he had lived since 1861, and named 
Hardin College in his honor. From his munificent hand it 
had received many thousand dollars up to the time of his 
death in 1892. 

^220. Locusts.—In 1874 and in 1875 all the country 
west of Missouri, even to and beyond the Rocky Mountains, 
was plagued by a devouring insect. Governor Hardin, in his 
message, called them the Rocky Mountain locusts, but the 
people usually referred to them as Kansas grasshoppers. 
They were about two inches long and looked very much like 
the ordinary grasshopper that has always been seen in this 
State, except their legs were of a reddish color, and parts of 
their bodies, wings and head were more or less reddish, also. 
They came down from the mountains in 1874, filling and 
almost darkening the heavens by their great number. They 
quickly overran Colorado, then came on through Kansas, and 
late in the summer invaded Missouri. In Colorado and parts 
of Kansas they ate up every green thing, taking every live 
blade of grass and every leaf on tree and bush and flower and 
vegetable. They entered a few counties of Missouri, but in 
1874 they came after most of the crops had matured, and 
hence did not do so much damage. They deposited their 
eggs, however, and as it became warm next year these hatched 
out in great numbers. . The people fought them before 
they were able to fly, and thus greatly mitigated the pest. 
The most effective way was by digging ditches, putting in 
a few inches of straw, then driving the locusts into the ditch 
and burning the straw. Yet, in spite of all of these efforts, 
they overran several counties along the western border of 
the State. The first months of 1875 were dark days for 
these counties. Their wheat and meadows were destroyed 
by the locusts. They planted their corn, but it was devoured 
as fast as it came up. Again they would plant it, thinking 


176 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


that the insects would leave as soon as they became able to 
fly, and again it was devoured. Governor Hardin proclaimed 
that June 3, 1875, should be observed as a day of “fasting, 
thanksgiving and prayer,” for Divine deliverance from the 
vexatious plague. The proclamation was generally observed, 
especially in that part of the State where the danger seemed 
most imminent. But throughout the State the people re¬ 
sponded liberally with money and provisions for the suffer¬ 
ers. About this time, in fact on the very next day, heavy 
rains set in. Up to that time the long continued drought had 
not abated in western Missouri, though slight rains had 
fallen in the spring months of 1875, but now they became 
heavy and frequent. This was regarded as a forerunner of 
deliverance. It was. The locusts began to move about 
June 11, but a strong southwest wind drove them further 
into the interior of the State, but in a day or two the wind 
shifted to the east, and by the fifteenth the locusts were all 
gone. The next year they came again, but did little dam¬ 
age, and since that time have not appeared. The citizens of 
these counties began at once to retrieve the loss. They 
planted their crops again, and, the season being very favor¬ 
able from that time on, the yield was bountiful. All over 
the State the crops were prodigious in 1875, and this fact 
served largely to alleviate the business depression of the 
two previous years. 

221. The New Constitution.—The people did not be¬ 
come any nearer satisfied with the Drake Constitution as 
they more thoroughly adjusted themselves to re-established 
peace. They felt it was out of harmony with the spirit of 
the age. At the election of 1874 a convention to frame a new 
constitution was voted for. Sixty-eight delegates, two from 
each senatorial district, were elected thereto on January 6, 
1875. They were able men, of great personal worth and 
wisdom. Sixty of them were Democrats, six Republicans 
and two Liberals. They met in the Capitol May 15, 1875. 


GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 


177 


Waldo P. Johnson was elected President, and Nathaniel W. 
Watkins vice-president. A thorough revision of the entire 
organic law of the State was made. Some of the provisions 
at the time were thought to be radical, but so far they have 
worked no hardship, and the people seem as well satisfied with 
the Constitution as an intelligent people ever did with any 
law. In fact, all persons look to it as a strong tower of 
defense, and a promoter of prosperity, peace and order. 

222. Three Marked Features.—Only three of its pro¬ 
visions will here be spoken of. (1) It prohibited the Leg¬ 
islature from imposing a debt upon the State in any amount 
above two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for any one 
year, unless two-thirds of the voters at an election should 
authorize it to do so, and did not permit towns and counties to 
issue bonds for any purpose except for the erection of public 
improvements. This was done to put a stop to the wasteful, 
and sometimes wicked issue of bonds for building railroads. 
(2) Another feature of this Constitution was the restrictions 
it put upon the Legislature, county courts, cities and school 
districts to tax the people. All these have been discussed in 
the proper chapters of the Civil Government of Missouri. 
Under such a Constitution no more great railroad debts like 
those we have considered can be contracted. (3) Its other 
marked feature was the thoughtful provisions in reference to 
public schools. Under the liberal laws it permitted the Leg¬ 
islature to make, Missouri now outranks almost every State 
in the Union in the amount of her school funds, and spends 
about ten hiillion dollars every year for education. The other 
provisions can not be presented, buL at the final vote in the 
Convention on its adoption, not a vote was recorded against 
it, and on the thirtieth of October it was adopted by the peo¬ 
ple, there being ninety-one thousand votes for it and fourteen 
thousand and five hundred against it. It went into operation 
November 30, 1875, and has since been the supreme law of 
the State government. 


178 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


223. Terms of Office. —By the new Constitution, the 
term of the Governor and of nearly all other State and many 
county officers was lengthened from two to four years, and 
it was provided that the Governor and Treasurer could not 
be re-elected as their own successors. It was thought the 
Governor would choose men because of their special fitness 
rather than for their political influence in making his appoint¬ 
ments, if not permitted to succeed himself. As the Treasurer 
handles the State’s money, it was considered it would be less 
liable to be purloined if frequent changes were made in the 
officers, and for the same reason county treasurers and 
sheriffs are not permitted to serve continuously longer than 
four years, but almost all other officers are eligible to re- 
election for any number of terms. 

224. The Election of 1876. —At the election in 1876 
the Democratic and Republican parties each nominated 
strong and talented men for Governor, John S. Phelps of 
Greene and G. A. Finkelnburg of St. Louis. The issues in the 
campaign that followed were largely national. The Demo¬ 
cratic majority was fifty-two thousand, and Phelps was 
inaugurated Governor January 8. 

Questions on Chapter XXI. 

1. Recite some of the incidents in the life of Silas Woodson. (215) 

2. What is said about the business depressions during his term? 

(216) 

3. How did he and the Legislature meet this condition? (216) 

4. What is said of the Grange? (217) 

5. To what were the financial troubles of these years partly due? 

(217) 

6. What action did the political parties take at the election in 

1874? (218) 

7. Give a sketch of the life of Charles H. Hardin. (219) 

8. What is said about locusts? (220) 

9. What efforts were made toward securing a new Constitution? 

( 221 ) 

10. Mention its first marked feature. (222) 


FROM 1877 TO 1892. 


179 


11. And the second. (222) 

12. And the third. (222) 

13. How was it adopted? (222) 

14. What was the votfe for and against it? (222) 

15. What changes did it make in the terms of offices? (223) 

16. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1876? (224) 

17. Who was elected and with what majority? (224) 


CHAPTER XXII. 

FROM 1877 TO 1892. 

225. John S. Phelps.—John S. Phelps was born in 
Connecticut, December 22, 1814. His father, Elisha Phelps, 
was a lawyer of prominence in that State and served also as 
a member of the Legisla¬ 
ture, and in other State 
offices, and three terms in 
Congress. His grand- 
father was a gallant and 
brave officer in the Revo¬ 
lutionary War. He re¬ 
ceived a classical educa¬ 
tion, studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in his 
native State. In 1837 he 
came to Missouri and set¬ 
tled at Springfield. Under 
the laws of the State then 
he must needs obtain a new 
license before he could 
practice law in Missouri, and that, too, from the chief justice 
of the Supreme Court. Phelps made the journey to Jefferson 
City on horseback, and on arrival learned that Judge Thomp- 
kins was some distance in the country at a sawmill. There 
the judge was found and the examination had, the applicant 




180 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


sitting on a log, and the hard knotty questions, hard like the 
logs around them, were plied by the learned judge. The 
license was written on a leaf torn from an old blue ledger, and 
from this unique circumstance young Phelps turned away to 
become one of the most prominent and influential men in the 
State’s history for the next forty years. He soon became 
noted in southwest Missouri as a great lawyer, and in 1840 
was elected to the Legislature as a Democrat. In 1844 he 
was elected to Congress and was a member of that body 
continuously till 1862. At that time the most important 
committee of the House was the committee of Ways and 
Means, and of this Mr. Phelps was eight years chairman. 
When the war came on he sided with the Union, and did much 
toward aiding General Lyon in his efforts to grasp the State 
from the hands of Governor Jackson. In 1861 he organized 
“Phelps’ Regiment,’’ was its colonel for several months, and, 
at the battle of Pea Ridge, commanded it in person and saw it 
suffer a loss of thirty per cent of its men. In 1862 he was mili¬ 
tary Governor of Arkansas. In 1863 he resumed the practice 
of law at Springfield. He was frequently put forward dur¬ 
ing the next few years for United States Senator as a Union 
Democrat, but always defeated. In 1868 he was the Demo¬ 
cratic candidate for Governor, and was elected in 1876, served 
for four years, and filled the office with creditable honor 
and wisdom. So well satisfied were the people with his 
administration that he doubtless would have been elected 
again had not the Constitution adopted in 1875 made it 
impossible for him to succeed himself. He died in St. Louis 
in 1886. 

226. Senators. —In 1875 Francis M. Cockrell was 
elected as a Democrat to represent Missouri in the United 
States Senate, and was re-elected in 1881, 1887, 1893 and 
1899. He served the people as Senator for just thirty years, 
but in March, 1905, was defeated by William Warner, a 
Republican. In 1879 George G. Vest was elected as the other 


FROM 1877 TO 1892. 


181 


United States Senator, and continued to serve for twenty- 
four years. At the close of his fourth term, in 1903, he 
declined re-election, and William J. Stone, a Democrat, was 
chosen as his successor. 

227. Governor Crittenden.—Thomas T. Crittenden 
was elected Governor in 1880. The Republican candidate 
was D. P. Dyer of St. Louis. Mr. Crittenden was born in 
Kentucky in 1832, and reared at Cloverport on the Ohio 
river. His primary education was in the log-cabin school- 
house of that time, but 
in 1852 he entered Cen¬ 
tre College, in that 
State, and was gradu¬ 
ated therefrom in 1855. 

He studied law with his 
uncle, the great J. J. 

Crittenden, and came 
to Missouri and settled 
at Lexington. In 1862 
he enrolled in the State 
militia, was made lieu¬ 
tenant - colonel and 
served till the close of 
the war. He then re¬ 
sumed the practice of 
law at Warrensburg as 
a partner of General F. M. Cockrell. • He became a leader in 
the liberal movement for equality of citizenship, peace, 
fraternity and good will, and boldly advanced these ideas in 
a brilliant canvass of a great part of the State. In 1872 he 
was elected to Congress, and again in 1876. His administra¬ 
tion is remembered mostly for the breaking up of the James 
Boys band of outlaws and murderers, the most terrible set of 
train and bank robbers in all Western history, and also for a 
settlement of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad debt. The 



Thos. T. Crittenden. 


182 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


State had, in 1851 and 1855, issued its bonds to the amount 
of $3,000,000 to aid in building that road. During this 
administration, after a great number of lawsuits, the road 
paid the debt with interest. 

228. The Election of 1884.—There were three candi¬ 
dates for Governor in 1884. The Democrats nominated John 
S. Marmaduke; the Republicans, Nicholas Ford of Andrew 
county; and the Prohibitionists, John A. Brooks of Kansas 
City. Neither Marmaduke nor Ford had any ability as pub¬ 
lic speakers, and neither had ever been extensively or con¬ 
spicuously identified with political contests; consequently, 
the campaign was largely overshadowed by the National con¬ 
test for the Presidency between Blaine and Cleveland. The 
Prohibitionists, however, made a more energetic campaign 
and polled more votes than ever before or since. Marmaduke 
was elected. The principal features of his administration 

were the Local Option law and 
the legislation regulating rail¬ 
roads. For some time public 
sentiment had been growing 
against the grasping power 
and extortionate greed of rail¬ 
roads. An effort was made in 
the Legislature of 1887 to give 
relief, but without success, 
and an adjournment was had 
leaving the matter entirely 
unsettled, much to the regret 
of the Governor and a large 
part of the people. There¬ 
upon he called an extra ses¬ 
sion to consider this question. 
After an animated session, prolonged through several weeks, 
a law was passed forbidding railroads to pool with each other 
in keeping up the price of traffic, also forbidding them from 



FROM 1877 TO 1892. 


183 


charging higher rates for short distances than for longer ones 
over the same road and to the same market, also from charg¬ 
ing small shippers higher rates per car than large ones. The 
law satisfied the public demands for a few years and as time 
goes on seems to be much more efficient than was at first 
supposed. 

229. The Local Option Law .—The Local Option Law 
was enacted in 1887 in the interest of temperance. It gave 
to each town of 2,500 population the right to decide, by a 
majority vote, whether or not intoxicating liquors should be 
sold therein as a beverage and to all the rest of the county, 
except such towns, the same privilege. Under this law nearly 
all of the principal towns and a majority of the counties held 
elections. In a majority of them the vote was against the 
selling of liquors, but in most of these cases the election was 
declared invalid because proper notice was not given in the 
newspapers, or because it was not otherwise legally ordered 
or held. The whole State was alive with these elections in 
1887 and 1888, and then for a few years public interest in 
them declined, but lately has much revived, and by 1908 at 
least half the counties in the State had adopted the law. 

230. Governor Marmaduke.—John Sappington Mar- 
maduke was born in Saline county, in 1833, being a son of 
M. M. Marmaduke, who became Governor on the death of 
Thomas Reynolds in 1844. He was reared on the farm, 
entered Yale College at the age of seventeen and West Point 
Military Academy at the age of twenty, from which he was 
graduated in 1857, and was assigned to duty in Utah as an offi¬ 
cer in the regular army under the renowned Albert Sidney 
Johnston. When civil war broke in mad fury over the land, 
he resigned from the United States army, organized a com¬ 
pany of State Guards and joined Governor Jackson at Boon- 
ville. Contrary to his advice. Governor Jackson, who was 
his uncle by marriage, ordered him to give battle to General 

35 


184 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Lyon at that place. He obeyed the order, led his little army 
to certain defeat in face of Lyon’s stalwart troops, then quickly 
resigned from the State Guard, proceeded to Richmond and 


tendered his sword to 
the Confederacy, and 
then went off to the 
war. He became a col¬ 
onel in Albert Sidney 
Johnston’s army, and, 
for gallant conduct at 
the battle of Shiloh, was 
breveted brigadier-gen¬ 
eral on the field. He 
subsequently took part 
in the war in Missouri 
and Arkansas. When 
the war was over he 
became a commission 
merchant in St. Louis. 
Afterwards he became 
interested in journalism 
and became the owner 



A. P. Morehouse. 


of a farmers’ paper called the Journal of Agriculture, In 
1876 he was elected Railroad Commissioner, and in 1884 
Governor, and served just three years, till December 28, 
1887, on which day he died. Albert P. Morehouse, the 
Lieutenant-Governor, immediately succeeded to the office 
and held it for one year. Mr. Morehouse was a native of 
Ohio, who came to Missouri in 1856, and after teaching school 
for a time became a lawyer, and rose to eminence in north¬ 
west Missouri as a citizen. He served several terms in the 
Legislature and died in September, 1891. 

231. The Election of 1888.—At the election of 1888 
the Democratic candidate for Governor was David R. Francis 
of St. Louis, and the Republican was E. E. Kimball of Ne- 










FROM 1877 TO 1892. 


185 


vada. Francis was elected, and Stephen Claycomb, of Jasper 
county, was chosen Lieutenant-Governor. 

232. David Rowland Francis was born in Kentucky 
in 1850, and moved with his parents to St. Louis in 1866, 
where for four years he attended Washington University, 
graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1870. His 
expenses while at college were defrayed partly by money he 
had earned as a newsboy in Richmond, Kentucky, during the 
war, from 1861 to 1864. To complete his education he in¬ 
curred a debt of several hundred dollars, which he repaid out 
of the first money earned after graduation. In 1870 he en¬ 
tered upon successful commercial pursuits, which he has 
continued to the present time. In March, 1885, he was elected 
Mayor of St. Louis, and in November, 1888, was. elected 
Governor, and inaugurat¬ 
ed January 14, 1889. In 
1896 he was called to 
the Cabinet by President 
Cleveland, as Secretary of 
the Interior, and served 
the country as the head of 
the Interior Department 
about six months. During 
his administration as Gov¬ 
ernor the State Treasurer 
became a defaulter in the 
sum of about thirty - two 
thousand dollars. The Gov¬ 
ernor promptly suspended 
him from office, his bonds¬ 
men without suit made 
good the amount embez- David R. Francis. 

zled, and the defaulting officer was prosecuted and sent to the 
penitentiary. Lon V. Stephens, who afterwards was Gov¬ 
ernor, was appointed State Treasurer to fill the vacancy. 



186 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Questions on Chapter XXII. 

1. Give a sketch of the life of John S. Phelps. (225) 

2. Who were elected Senators in 1875 and 1879? (226) 

3. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1880? (227) 

4. Give a sketch of Governor Crittenden’s life. (227) 

5. For what is his administration most remembered? (227) 

6. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1884? (228) 

7. What is said about the campaign? (228) 

8. What were the principal features of Marmaduke’s administra¬ 

tion? (228) 

9. What is said about legislation regulating railroads? (228) 

10. What is said of the Local Option Law? (229) 

11. Give a sketch of the life of John S. Marmaduke. (230) 

12. How long did he serve as Governor? (230) 

13. Who succeeded him? (230) 

14. What is said of Governor Morehouse? (230) 

15. What is said of the election of 1888? (231) 

16. Give a sketch of the life of Mr. Francis. (232) 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

233. The Election of 1892. —In 1892 the Republicah 
party nominated Major William Warner of Kansas City as 
its candidate for Governor, and the Democrats nominated 
William J. Stone of Nevada. Both candidates were exceed¬ 
ingly able speakers, and the campaign that followed was one 
of the most active ever known in the State. The main issue 
of the contest was the proper system of taxation by the Fed¬ 
eral Government—whether there should be a tariff for pro¬ 
tection or tariff for revenue only. In this campaign Leverett 
Leonard of Saline county was a candidate of the new Popu¬ 
list or People’s party for the office of Governor. At the polls 
Major Warner received 235,383 votes, Mr. Stone 265,044, 
Mr. Leonard, 37,262. There were also 3,393 votes cast for 
John Sobieski, the Prohibition candidate. Mr. Stone re- 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME.’' 


187 


ceived 29,661 more votes than did Major Warner, and was 
elected. 

234. William J. Stone.—William Joel Stone was born 
near Richmond in Madison county, Kentucky, in 1848, his 
ancestors having come to that State from Virginia. He was 

reared on his father’s 
farm and attended the 
neighborhood schools 
and the seminary at 
Richmond. In 1863 
he came to Missouri and 
was educated at the 
State University at Co¬ 
lumbia. In 1869 he 
was admitted to the 
bar, served as city at¬ 
torney of Columbia for 
a few months and in 
1870 removed to Ne¬ 
vada, and soon became 
one of the most prom¬ 
inent citizens and law¬ 
yers of southwest Mis¬ 
souri. In 1884 he was 
elected to Congress and served in the House of Representa¬ 
tives for six years. While a member of that body the tena¬ 
cious contest arose in Congress over the forfeiture of the im¬ 
mense land grants made to Western and Southern railroads 
between 1862 and 1868. Mr. Stone contended that these 
lands ought to be restored to the public domain for the rea¬ 
son that the railroads had not complied with the terms of the 
grants. He became a leader on the side of those urging that 
the grants be forfeited, and as a result of this movement 
about sixty million acres were restored to the Government 
while he was a member of Congress. In 1892 he became 




188 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Governor, and during his term led in the organization of the 
Democratic party of the State in behalf of the free and un¬ 
limited coinage of silver. At the close of his term as Gov¬ 
ernor, he engaged in the practice of the law at St. Louis, and in 
1903 was elected a Senator in Congress by the Missouri Gen¬ 
eral Assembly. 

235. Decrease in Revenues.—In 1892 the valuation 
of all property in the State, as ascertained by the assessments 
made by the county assessors and the changes made by the 
State Board of Equalization in equalizing those assessments, 
slightly exceeded the sum of nine hundred million dollars. 
Up to that time since the adoption of the Constitution of 1875 
the rate of taxation for State purposes had been twenty cents 
on the hundred dollars valuation. But by the Constitution 
when the entire valuation exceeds nine hundred millions, this 
rate must not exceed fifteen cents on each hundred dollars 
worth of property. Hence, it may be seen that the revenues 
of the State were much less for the next few years than they 
had been for some time prior to 1893. Nevertheless the State 
government was not impaired nor greatly embarrassed by 
this sudden change. By proper economy it was able to ap¬ 
propriate one-third of its revenue to the public schools, and 
besides built the main edifice to the State University, whose 
buildings had been burned in 1892, and made additions to 
about half of the educational and eleemosynary institutions 
of the State, and paid all claims against the Treasury when 
presented. 

236. Cyclones.—In late years destructive storms, pop¬ 
ularly called cyclones or tornadoes, have occurred in the 
West, and in most States in the Upper Mississippi valley. 
They have occurred in various parts of Missouri, but only the 
four that were most destructive of life and property will be 
mentioned. In 1878 a violent storm swept down on Rich¬ 
mond, in Ray county, killing more than a score of people, and 


FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 


189 


destroying many houses. Another, equally destructive of 
life and property, overtook the town of Marshfield, in Web¬ 
ster county,'in 1880. Another still more destructive fell upon 
the town of Kirksville in 1899. But the worst cyclone per¬ 
haps ever known in the West, was the one which came down 
on St. Louis late in the afternoon of May 27, 1896. It came 
from a southwesterly direction, and mowed a wide way for 
itself through the city. Churches, residences, factories, 
parks, buildings of every kind were destroyed. It caused the 
death of two hundred and twenty people in the city, twelve 
boats on the river were lost, eight thousand, three hundred 
houses were either destroyed or badly damaged, and parts of 
the great railroad bridge over the Mississippi were blown 
down. But wherever these storms have occurred, the sur¬ 
vivors have soon set aside their fears, gathered their energies 
together again and repaired the loss of property. The num¬ 
ber of deaths in the whole State caused by them is far less 
than that caused by a disease of ordinary virulence, and the 
value of the property destroyed is not to be compared to that 
consumed by fire; and, beyond question, many people have 
permitted themselves to unnecessarily exaggerate their dan¬ 
ger. 

237. Election of 1896.—For the election of 1896 the 
Democrats nominated Lon V. Stephens, of Boonville, for 
Governor, and the Republicans nominated Robert E. Lewis 
of Clinton. The Populists nominated Orville D. Jones of 
Edina, but in a month or two after his nomination Judge 
Jones withdrew in favor of Mr. Stephens. The campaign 
was a stirring one from the beginning. Mr. Stephens was 
elected, receiving 43,233 more votes than Mr. Lewis. 

238. Governor Stephens.—Lon V. Stephens was born 
in Boonville, Missouri, December 21, 1858, being a son of 
the well-known Joseph L. Stephens, who for many years was 
one of the most prominent business men of the State, and 


190 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


himself a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Gov¬ 
ernor in 1872. He wa^ prepared for college in the famous 
Kemper Family School of Boonville, and was then sent to 
Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia. After 

making a tour of Europe, 
he became identified with 
his father’s bank in 
Boonville, serving as 
book-keeper, cashier, and 
director, and here receiv¬ 
ed the training which 
soon made him conspicu¬ 
ous among the younger 
business men of Missouri. 
In 1887 he was made re¬ 
ceiver of the Fifth Na¬ 
tional Bank of St. Louis, 
which had become bank¬ 
rupt, and so successfully 
wound up its affairs as 
to attract the attention 
of the State. In March, 1890, he was appointed State 
Treasurer to fill out the term of Mr. Noland, who had 
been removed, and in 1892 elected to the same position for a 
term of four years. While in this office he became identified 
with those who were urging the cause of the free and unlim¬ 
ited coinage of silver, which had gained control of the Demo¬ 
cratic party in Missouri, and at the State convention was 
nominated for Governor by acclamation, and elected to that 
office in November. 

239. Strikes.—During Governor Stone’s term there 
was a strike among the coal miners throughout the country, 
which was accompanied with violence in many States. The 
militia was called out in Ohio, Kansas, Tennessee and other 
States to restore order. A strong effort was made to involve 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 


191 


the miners of Missouri in this strike; but because of the 
prompt and wise action taken by the administration, as¬ 
sisted by employers and leaders among the miners, all trouble 
here was averted. 

About the first of July, 1894, a strike by the employees of 
railroads extended over a great part of the country. Traffic 
was interrupted, commerce greatly impeded, and in some 
places there was violence, bloodshed and destruction of prop¬ 
erty. But happily in Missouri traffic was not materially in¬ 
terrupted except on three railroads, and on these the trouble 
continued for only three or four days; nor was there any ex¬ 
tensive destruction of property or bloodshed. 

But in 1900, during the administration of Governor 
Stephens, there was a strike among the employees of the 
street railways in St. Louis, which lasted for six weeks. It 
involved about four-fifths of all the railways in the city, and 
was attended with some violence and resulted in much loss 
of business. In fact, business almost ceased, both within the 
city, and in the wide extent of country of which it is the 
metropolis. The police forced the cars to run, but did not 
give such protection as made it safe for citizens to ride on 
them. The Mayor and Municipal Assembly seemed in¬ 
different, and made no real effort to restore order. The Gov¬ 
ernor was appealed to by a large number of citizens to call out 
the militia to put down the rioters. He replied that he would 
not do so because there was no money on hand with which to 
pay their expenses, and because he'was not convinced that 
the sheriff had tried to use the posse comitatus to suppress 
disorder, and directed the sheriff to do that at once. Then 
the sheriff summoned hundreds of the most prominent and 
substantial citizens in the city to aid him. They surprisingly 
responded with alacrity. They took their guns and went 
forth to restore order, and order was soon restored. The 
rioters ceased to destroy property, throw stones at cars, insult 
passengers, or do other violence. Then the strike wore itself 


192 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


out. A few of the most lawless among the rioters were tried 
for criminally destroying the tracks and blowing up cars on 
which were passengers, convicted, and sent to the peniten¬ 
tiary. 

240. Election of 1900.—In 1900 the Democratic party 
nominated Alexander M. Dockery of Gallatin as its candi¬ 
date for Governor, and the Republicans nominated Joseph 
Flory of St. Louis. Five or six other small parties also put 
forward candidates, but the issue was between the Demo¬ 
crats and the Republicans. Mr. Dockery was elected by a 
plurality of 32,147 over Mr. Flory. 

241. Governor Dockery.—Alexander Monroe Dock- 
ery^was born in Daviess county, February 11, 1845. He was 


educated at the common 
schools, and in the Macon 
Academy, and graduated 
from the best medical col¬ 
leges in St. Louis and New 
York, and practiced medi¬ 
cine until 1874, in Linneus 
and Chillicothe. In 1874 
he assisted in organizing a 
bank at Gallatin and for 
eight years was its cashier. 



f it was during that period 
that his unusual business 
'/^ Y / /. ability first manifested 


// // itself. In 1882 he was 


/ elected to Congress as a 
Democrat, and was a mem¬ 
ber of the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives for sixteen years, 
where he took high rank. 


A. M, Dockery. 


and was the author of some legislation which has become a 
fixed part of the Government’s affairs, such as the law provid- 


FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 


193 


ing for special letter delivery at all postoffices and of the law 
extending free delivery of mails to small cities. In 1899 he 
voluntarily retired from Congress to become a candidate 
for Governor. He was elected, and inaugurated January 
14, 1901. 

242. Election of 1904.—With the exception of the un¬ 
important election of 1894, the Democrats had carried the 
State at every election since the right to vote had been re¬ 
stored to all male citizens twenty-one years of age in 1870. 
But in 1904 the Democratic party was torn to pieces by in¬ 
ternal dissensions. The campaign leading up to the State 
convention was intensely bitter. It resulted in the nomina¬ 
tion of Joseph W. Folk of St. Louis. The Republicans nom¬ 
inated Cyrus P. Walbridge of the same city. Mr. Folk was 
elected, but otherwise the Republicans almost completely 
swept the State. They elected the other six State officers, a 
majority of the Circuit Judges and Representatives in Con¬ 
gress, and obtained a large majority in the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives of the General Assembly, and that assembly 
elected a Republican to the United States Senate, and they 
carried not only the three large cities of St. Louis, Kansas 
City and St. Joseph, but a majority of the counties, and the 
Republican candidate for President also carried the State by 
a large plurality. But in the election of 1906, when the bitter¬ 
ness in the Democratic party had somewhat abated, that 
party again carried the State by small majorities. Their 
State ticket was successful, they elected their candidates for 
county offices in a majority of the counties, and had a large 
majority in both houses of the General Assembly of 1907. 

243. Governor Folk.—Joseph W. Folk was born in 
Brownsville, Tennessee, October 28, 1869; he was educated in 
the common schools, and took a law course at Vanderbilt 
University, at Nashville. He came to Missouri in 1891, and 
in 1900 was elected Circuit Attorney of St. Louis, and soon 


194 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



after entering into office began the prosecution of members 
of the Municipal Assembly who had been guilty of bribery. 

A large number of them 
were indicted, and some of 
them convicted and sent to 
the penitentiary. In 1904 
he was elected Governor by 
a plurality of 30,100. The 
entire vote in the State was 
643,969, which was 40,225 
less than it had been four 
years before. Mr. Folk was 
the youngest man ever 
elected Governor of Missouri, 
being at the time of his 
election only a little over 
thirty-five years of age—and 
no man can become Governor 
until he reaches that age. 


Joseph W. Folk. 


244. The Election of 1908.—The Republican party 
in 1908, nominated Herbert S. Hadley of Kansas City for 
Governor and the Democrats nominated William S. Cow¬ 
herd of the same city. Both were men of marked abilities 
and large experience in public affairs. General Hadley was 
elected by a plurality of 15,879 votes. The Republican 
candidate for President also carried the State by 629 votes, 
and he thereby received its entire electoral vote. The re¬ 
turns showed a majority of 23 votes for William R. Painter 
of Carroll county for Lieutenant-Governor, out of a total 
of nearly seven hundred thousand. These returns were 
challenged when they were sent to the General Assembly, 
and that body after weary attempts to correct the errors 
therein, declared that J. F. Gmelich, the Republican candidate, 
had been elected by 177 votes. The Democratic candidates 
for Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, attorney 


FROM 1892 TO Tl^E PRESENT TIME. 195 

General and Supreme Judge were elected. The Republicans 
had a majority in the House of Representatives, but the 
Democrats a larger majority in the Senate, and the General 
Assembly on joint ballot re-elected William J. Stone to the 
United States Senate. The Republicans elected six and the 
Democrats ten Representatives in Congress. 

245. Governor Hadley.—Herbert S. Hadley was born 
in Olathe, Kansas, February 20, 1872. He was educated 
at the University of Kansas, the Northwestern University 
and the Chicago Law School. 

He began the practice of the 
law in Kansas City in 1894, 
and in 1898 was appointed 
first assistant city counselor 
of that city, which position 
he held until January 1, 

1901, when he resigned to 
enter upon his duties as 
prosecuting attorney of Jack- 
son county, to which position 
he had been elected in the 
previous November. In 1904 
he was the Republican candi¬ 
date for Attorney-General and 
was elected. In this office 
he became very active in the 
prosecution of certain trusts 
and combinations in restraint* 
of trade, especially the Stand¬ 
ard Oil Company, and through them soon attracted the at¬ 
tention of the people of this State and of other states. In 
1908 he was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate 
for Governor, without opposition in his party, and at the 
succeeding election in November was elected. 











196 


HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


246. Conclusion.—The census of 1900 gave the popu¬ 
lation of the State as 3,293,335. This had been an increase 
of 186,670 since 1900. The area of the State is 68,735 square 
miles, or about forty-four million acres. There are more 
than eight thousand miles of railroad, and the taxable wealth 
of the State is considerably over one billion six hundred 
million dollars. The territory is well supplied with rivers, 
and the annual rainfall is large. There are lead, iron and 
zinc in untold quantities. A large part of the State is under¬ 
laid with excellent coal, and these beds are to be found in 
ready access to each county. Numerous other mineral 
products are found in large quantities and of excellent quality. 
The State is so rich in everything that contributes to the 
comforts of man that it could be made to supply the wants 
of twenty-five millions of people. There is a strong central 
university at Columbia, and two others in St. Louis, namely 
Washington University and the St. Louis University. There 
are not less than one hundred and fifty colleges, academies 
and seminaries; the strongest colleges being William Jewell 
at Liberty, Central at Fayette, Westminster at Fulton, 
Drury at Springfield, Central College for young ladies at 
Lexington, Stephens and Christian at Columbia, Park at 
Parkville, Hardin at Mexico and Missouri Valley at Marshall, 
and for the education of teachers there are the five State 
Normals at Warrensburg, Cape Girardeau, Kirksville, Spring- 
field and Maryville. There are schools for the education of 
physicians and lawyers, also commercial schools. Besides, 
there are many high schools in the larger towns, and over ten 
thousand public and private schools. The inhabitants of 
Missouri have always been a religious people, and in every 
county and town, and in almost every township, there are 
faithful men of God proclaiming the Gospel. The leading re¬ 
ligious denominations are Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, 
Presbyterian, Christian, Episcopalian, Lutheran and Con- 
gregationalist. 


FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 


197 


Of late years there have been a constantly increasing 
interest and activity in the construction of permanent public 
roads, and in the drainage and redemption of the rich bottom 
lands along the large and small rivers. 

Questions on Chapter XXIII. 

1. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1892? (233) 

2. What is said of the campaign? (233) 

3. Who was elected? (233) 

4. Give a sketch of the life of William J. Stone. (234) 

5. What is said about the valuation of property in 1892? (235) 

6. What is said of cyclones? (236) 

7. Who was elected Governor in 1896. (237) 

8. What is said about the strike among railroad employees in 1894? 

(239) 

9. What is said of the street railway strike in St. Louis and of the 

way it was suppressed? (239) 

10. Who was elected Governor in 1900 and by how much? (240) 

11. What party carried the State in 1904? In 1906? (242) 

12. What is said concerning the election of 1908? (244) 

13. Give a sketch of Governor Hadley. (245) 

14. What is said in conclusion? (246) 


' v’l’ : 





INDEX TO HISTORY OF MISSOURI 


(The references are to the sections.) 


Alabama, 55. 

Armed Neutrality, 143, 144, 152. 
Army, Price’s, 175, 176. 

Arsenal: 

at St. Louis, 156. 
at Liberty, 159. 

Ashley, William H., 71, 79. 

Atchison, David R., 82, 124, 147. 

Barton, David, 59, 66. 

Bates, Frederick, 71, 72. 

Battle: 

Boonville, 171, 

Carthage, 173. 

Wilson’s Creek, 177. 

Pea Ridge, 184. 

Lexington, 181. 

Bay, Judge, 201. 

Bent, Charles, 102. 

Benton, 66, 67, 98, 113, 114, 117, 124. 
Bills of Credit, 50. 

Bingham, George C., 189. 

Black Guard, 162. 

Blair, Francis P., 102, 149, 157, 161, 
167, 202. 

Blue Lodges, 129. 

Boggs, Lilburn W., 83, 84, 91. 

Boone, Daniel, 39. 

Boonville, 169, 171, 172. 

Bracito, Battle of, 103. 

Broadhead. James O., 149, 203. 
Brooks, John A., 228. 

Brown, B. Gratz, 149, 203, 209. 
Brown, John, 132. 

Bull, John, 79. 

Burnt District, 189. 

Burr, 31. 

Business Depressions, 50, 216. 

Camp Jackson, 161, 162, 163. 

Capital, 75. 

Carthage, Battle of, 173. 

Chihuahua, 104. 

Cholera, 81. 

Clark, George Rogers, 19. 

Clark, John B., 89, 93, 164, 169, 173, 
177 182 

Clark, John B., Jr., 190. 

Clark, William, 41. 

Clavcomb, Stephen, 231. 

Cockrell, F. M., 212, 226. 

Colman, Norman J., 218. 
Compromise: 

Missouri, 58, 127. 

Clay, 62. 

Conditional Union Men, 148. 
Confederacy, 185, 187. 

Congressional Delegates, 41. 

36 


Congressmen, 68, 79, 98. 

Constitution: 
first, 59. 
second, 195. 
third, 221. 

Constitution, 1875, 222. 

Convention of 1861, 146, 151, 152, 
154, 180, 198. 

Cowskin Prairie, 175. 

Crittenden, T. T., 188, 227. 
Cummings, Rev. J. A., 202, 203. 
Cyclones, 236. 

Debt, imprisonment for, 96. 
Democrats, 93. 

DeSoto, 1, 2. 

DeWitt, 88. 

Discoveries, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 

Dockery, Alexander M., 240, 241. 
Doniphan, Alexander W., 82, 89, 101, 
164. 

Doniphan’s Expedition, 101. 

Drake Constitution, 195. 

Draconian Code, 197, 202. 

Dryden, Judge, 201. 

Duels, 67, 73. 

Dunklin, Daniel, 79, 80. 

Dyer, D. P., 227. 

Earthquakes, 35, 36. 

Edwards, John C., 98, 99. 

Elections: 

1820, 64. 

1824, 71. 

1828, 76. 

1832, 79. 

1836, 83. 

1840, 93. 

1844, 98. 

1848, 109. 

1852, 118 
1856, 124. 

1860, 140, 141. 

1864, 194. 

1868, 204. 

1870, 207. 

1872, 214. 

1874, 218. 

1876, 224. 

1880, 227. 

1884, 228. 

1888, 231. 

1892, 233. 

1896, 237. 

1900, 240. 

1904, 242. 

1908, 244. 

Elkhorn, Battle, 184. 


(0 



II 


INDEX TO HISTORY OF MISSOURI 


Emigration Aid Companies. 128. 
Engagements, number of, 191. 

English Settlements, 38. 

Ewing, Robert C., 124. 

Expedition, Doniphan’s, 101. 
Expeditions: 

Lewis and Clark, 33. 

Pike’s, 34. 

Far West, 87. 

Fire, St. Louis, 110. 

Fires, Prairie, 78. 

First Settlement, 8, 38. 

Finkelnburg, G. A., 224. 

First White Man, 1. 

Fletcher, Thomas C., 194. 

Flory, Joseph, 240. 

Folk, Joseph, 243. 

Fort Orleans, 7. 

Francis, David R., 231, 232. 

Franklin, 42. 

Free Negroes, 60, 63. 

French Explorations, 2, 3. 

Frost, D. M., 134, 156, 161, 162. 
Fugitive Slave Law, 133, 139. 

Fur Trade, 9, 46. 

Gamble, Hamilton R., 148, 152, 193, 
198 

Gentry, William, 218. 

Geyer, Henry S., 117. 

Germans, 136, 140, 162. 

Glasgow, Battle of, 190. 

Glover, Samuel T., 149, 203. 

Grange, The, 217. 

Gravelly, J. J., 207. 

Green, James S., 124, 147, 155. 

Guitar, Odon, 186. 

Gunn City Tragedy, 213. 

Hadley, Herbert, 244, 245. 

Halleck, General, 183. 

Hall, Willard P., 102, 180, 193, 203. 
Hall, William A., 148, 153. 

Hard Money, 92. 

Hardin, Charles H., 218, 219. 

Hards and Softs, 98. 

Harney, General, 134, 156, 160, 165, 
166. 

Hempstead, 41. 

Henderson, John B., 151, 153, 214. 
Hindes, Samuel, 133, 134. 

Hinkle, Col. G. W., 88, 89, 90. 
Houses, 16, 46. 

Howard County, 38, 43. 

Howard, Governor, 40. 

Immigrants, 32, 38, 42, 44. 
Imprisonment for debt, 96. 
Independence, 86. 

Indians, 21. 

Internal Improvements, 120, 121. 
Iowa Line, 111, 112. 

Jackson, Claiborne F., 113. 141, 144, 
147, 153, 163, 164, 167, 168, 173, 
180, 182. 

Jackson, Congreve, 88. 

Jackson, Hancock, 124. 

Jackson Resolutions, 114, 115, 116. 


James Boys, 227. 

Jayhawkers, 133, 135, 188. 

Johnson, Chas. P., 214. 

Johnson, Waldo P., 155, 221. 

Joliet, 2. 

Judges Ousted, 199, 201. 

Kansas Troubles, 127, 188. 

Kennett, Luther M., 117. 

Kimball, E. E., 231. 

King, Austin A., 109. 

Know-Nothings, 117, 124, 140. 

Laclede, 9. 

Lafayette’s visit, 74. 

LaSalle, 3. 

Lawrence, Sacking of 188. 

Lead, 8, 48. 

Legislature, Secession, 182. 

Lewis and Clark Expedition, 32. 
Lewis, Meriwether, 33, 40. 

Lewis, Robert E., 237. 

Lexington, Battle of, 181. 

Liberty Arsenal, 159. 

Little Blue, Battle of, 190. 

Local Option. 228, 229. 

Louisiana, named, 3. 

Louisiana Purchase, 25, 26, 27. 
Louisiana Territory, 28. 

Lucas, Charles, 67. 

Lucas, Judge J. B. C., 30, 67. 

Lyon, Nathaniel, 156, 157, 160, 161, 
162, 167, 170, 174, 177. 

Manumission Day, 196. 

Marmaduke, John S., 171, 228, 230. 
Marmaduke. M. M., 97, 230. 
Marquette, 2. 

Massachusetts, 128. 

Matches, 123. 

McClurg, Joseph W., 204, 207. 
McCulloch, General, 176, 177. 
McNair, Alexander, 59, 65. 

Miller, .lohn, 76, 83. 

Militia, 95, 

^Missouri; 

acquired by France, 3. 
acquired by Spain, 11. 
acquired by France again, 25. 
acquired by United States, 26. 
organized as territory and named, 
40. 

admitted as State, 63. 

Missouri, Application to become a 
State, 52. 
objections, 53, 54. 
compromise, 58. 
admitted as State, 63. 

Missouri Declares for Union, 150. 
Missouri Indians, 6. 

Missoiu-i Militia, 187, 188. 

Missouri River, named, 2. 

Missouri Territory, named, 41. 
“Missourians,” 130. 

Montgomery’s Raid, 133. 

Morehouse, Albert P., 230. 

Mormons Expelled, 89. 

Mormon Troubles, 85. 

Moss, James H., 153. 

Moss Resolution, 153. 


Ill 


t 


INDEX TO HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 


Mulattoes, 60, 63. 

Mullins, Maj. A. W., 186, 190. 
Muster Day, 95. 

New Madrid Claims, 37, 

New Madrid Earthquake, 35, 36. 
New Mexico, 100, 108. 

Newspapers, first, 32, 42, 86. 
Nullification, 139. 

Number: 

of engagements, 191. 
of soldiers, 192. 

Order No. 11, 188, 189. 

Order No. 24, 183. 

Osage Indians, 5. 

Ousting Officers, 199. 

Patten, David, 89. 

Peace, 208, 210. 

Pea Ridge, Battle of, 184. 

Pens, Steel, 123. 

Phelps, John S., 98, 148, 204, 225. 
Philips, John F., 187, 190, 203, 212 
Pike’s Expedition, 34. 

Pioneer Life, 45. 

Pirates, 20. 

Platte Purchase, 82. 

Polk, Trusten, 124, 125. 

Pontiac, 13. 

Population: 

1800, 24. 

1810, 51. 

1820, 66. 

1850, 136. 

1900, 242. 

Prairie Fires, 78. 

Pratt, Parley P., 90. 

Preachers Proscribed, 197, 202. 
Preparations for War, 164, 167, 175. 
Price’s Raid, 190. 

Price, Sterling, 98, 102, 107, 108, 118, 
119, 148, 151, 164, 166, 167, 168, 
175, 176, 177, 181, 184, 185. 
Price, Thomas L., 109, 194. 
Proscription, 197, 198, 207. 

Quantrell, 188. 

Railroad debt, 121, 212, 213, 227. 
Railroad Difficulties, 211, 212. 
Railroads, 120, 121, 122. 

Red Legs, 188. 

Reeves, Benjamin, 59, 71. 

Refugees, 183. 

Registration Act, 203. 

Republican Party, 138, 207, 214. 
Reynolds, Thomas, 93, 96, 97. 
Rollins, James S., 1C9, 124, 148, 
Ryland, John F., 148. 

Sacking of Lawrence, 188, 


St. Ange, 12. 

St. Charles, 10. 

Ste. Genevieve, 8. 

St. Louis: 
settlement, 9. 

British and Indian attack, 19. 
Santa Fe, Capture of, 102. 

Schools: 

father of, 80. 
interruption of, 187, 210. 
number of, 210, 242. 

Scott, John, 57, 68. 

Seal, State, 70. 

Secession, 142, 144, 145, 147, 152, 192. 
Secessionists, 147. 

Sectional Strife, 52, 138. 

Sewing Machines, 123. 

Shawnees and Delawares, 21. 

Shelby, General, 190. 

Sigel, General, 173. 

Sisters of Charity, 202. 

Slavery, 52, 53, 56, 58, 113. 

Slaves Emancipated, 196. 

Smith, Joseph, 85, 90. 

Social Relations, 17, 46. 

Soil and Settler, 15, 45, 46. 

Soldiers, Number of, 192. 

Solemn Public Act, 63 
Spanish Caravan, 6. 

Stanard, E. O., 204. 

State Seal, 70. 

Steamboats, 49. 

Stephens, Lon V., 238. 

Stewart, Robert M., 126, 143, 148. 
Stone, Wm. J., 226, 234. 

Strikes, 239. 

Supreme Court, 69. 

Tallmadge Resolution, 56. 

Taxes, decrease in, 235. 

Terms of Office, 223. 

Territorial Governors, 30, 40, 41. 

Test Oath, 197, 198. 

Texas, 100. 

Tomatoes, 123. 

Unconditional Union Men, 149. 

Vest, Geo. G., 226. 

Veto, first, 73. 

Vote on Secession, 150. 

War Declared, 167. 

Warner, Maj. Wm., 233. 

Weightman, Capt., 104, 178. 

Whigs, 93. 94. 

Wilkinson, 80, 31. 

Williams. Abraham J., 71. 

Williams, John F., 186. 

Wilson’s Creek, Battle of, 177. 
Winston, James, 118. 

Woodson, Silas, 215. 


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